Raphaël Lessard stole the victory in Race 1 for EuroNASCAR OPEN at Autodrom Most with a last lap restart pass on long-time leader Thomas Toffel.
It’s a classic phrase in motorsport to never count everything out until it’s over. For Raphaël Lessard, waiting until the very end was how the Canadian took his second victory of the season.
Following a late caution triggered on lap 11 by Ossi Pohjanharju’s crash in the penultimate corner, Lessard got the run he needed to get the jump on Thomas Toffel in the last lap restart.
Toffel tried his best to regain the lead that he had from the start of the race, but the pole sitter’s efforts were unsuccessful. The Swiss driver can only watch as he lost to Lessard’s No. 11 Alumitec Racing Ford Mustang by only 0.247 seconds.
“In the last restart I knew I just had to pass him in turn and I knew he would block the inside, so I was aware to outbraked him and that’s what I did,” said Lessard in Victory Lane.
“He lifted really early to protect the inside so I outbreaked him and ran around him. I’m super proud of that move, it was awesome.”
Despite his win, Lessard remained humble and acknowledged that Toffel had driven “one hell of a race” in the race.
Toffel was left with some disappointments on how the finish went, but he kept a positive outlook and looked at how the results aided his bid to win the EuroNASCAR OPEN championship title in 2026.
Thomas Dombrowski benefitted from a multi-car melee in the first restart to claim the last podium position. The aforementioned pile-up was triggered by Jens Beeusaert going too aggressive in the chicane, causing him to crash into the side of Martin Doubek.
The contact instantly eliminated both drivers. It also took out Robin Bleekemolen and Mariam Davitidze after they hit Doubek’s stranded No. 7 Orion Ford.
Subsequent checks by the on-site doctors revealed a broken finger in Davitidze’s left hand, the result of her clipping Doubek’s machine from the front.
Gil Linster avoided the calamity in front of him, but had no answer to Dombrowski’s pace. The Luxembourger therefore got fourth ahead of Vladimiros Tziortzis and Master Trophy winner Sandro Tavarkiladze.
Claudio Remigio Cappelli also got himself involved in the multi-car scuffle, but he survived to finish seventh and took home the win in Legend Trophy despite having major bodywork damage.
Dominique Schaak, Maxim van Laere and Henri Timonen complete the top-10 ahead of Mike Wise. For Timonen and Wise, the result marked their career best finishes in the division.
Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann initially crossed the finish line in 11th, but she was hit with a 5-second time penalty for restart procedure violations.
This handed the Lady Trophy win to Beitske Visser, who was classified in 14th, just ahead of Vanessa.
Vanessa was not the only one to receive a penalty for restart procedure violations. Giovanni Faraonio also received a similar penalty, dropping the Club Competition driver down from ninth to 12th.
The numerous restarts in the race aided André Lortie, who took his first lead lap finish in 16th. Lortie was also hit with the restart penalty, but he was far enough behind anyone else for it to matter in the final results.
OPEN Race 1 Results
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