World of EuroNASCAR takes a look at how Giovanni Cartechini became the Challenger Trophy leader on his V8GP debut in the 2026 Valencia NASCAR Fest.
The 2026 Valencia NASCAR Fest was a special round for Giovanni Cartechini, who brought home some silverwares on the Italian’s NASCAR Euro Series debut.
Cartechini exited the round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo as Challenger Trophy’s leader, beating out fellow Italian Alex Caffi in a true rookie-versus-veteran battle for the special classification.
The results was a mark of proof for Cartechini’s talents, as the Recanati-born driver showed that he’s not out of his depth despite only starting his racing career one year ago in Legend Cars Italia.
Cartechini was within two seconds of the leaders right from the start and finished inside the top-15 after Free Practice.
He did miss out on a Q2 appearance, but his time of 1:43.124 was enough to beat former V8GP race winners Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Marc Goossens.
Cartechini followed it up with a solid 13th place finish in Race 1. It was enough to secure second place in Challenger Trophy, albeit it was 18 seconds behind 2018 Challenger Trophy winner Kenko Miura.
This solid finish was then followed up with an excellent performance in Race 2. Cartechini swiftly recovered from an opening lap spin and fought his way to the Trophy’s top positions as the laps ticked down.
He found himself 15th at the checkered flag, three seconds behind Alex Caffi. However, Caffi was dinged with a 5-second penalty for moving out of the start formation too early.
As Cartechini finished within five seconds of Caffi, he was promoted to 14th, securing him the Challenger Trophy win in just his second ever race.
“My first time in EuroNASCAR couldn’t have started any better,” Cartechini said on social media post-race. “A weekend of pure adrenaline that ended with a second place in my class in Race 1 and a splendid win in Race 2!”
“My heartfelt thanks go to Corrado and Luca [Canneori, CAAL’s team bosses]. Thank you for believing in me from the very beginning.”
“I hope I’ve repaid your trust with these results. Racing with the CAAL Racing family is an immense honor. The HPM colors and brand couldn’t have been entrusted to a better team!”
Despite this demotion, Caffi is still Cartechini’s closest contender for the Challenger Trophy. The Monaco-based Italian was only two points away from Cartechini, but he’s not expected to make a return for Paul Ricard due to the one-off nature of his Valencia outing.
This left Brad Ranson as the real closest challenger for Cartechini in the classification. Ranson had his debut race cut short due to an early retirement, but made up for it with a Challenger Trophy podium finish in Race 2.
Ranson is currently 8 points behind Cartechini, with reigning Trophy winner Davit Kajaia another two points behind in fourth.
Kajaia had a rough weekend at Valencia, as two mechanical issues left him unable to show the potential of Kolkhi GRT’s No. 8 Toyota Camry.
Kajaia did, however, make it to the start of both Valencia races. Miura did not have the same luck as an oil leak right before Sunday’s Race 2 left him unable to participate, leaving the Japanese driver with a 19 points deficit to Cartechini.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.