Gianmarco Ercoli and Raphaël Lessard put Alumitec Racing in the forefront for the 2026 NASCAR GP Spain after they topped Free Practice on Friday.
Alumitec Racing had a perfect start to their first season as an independent NASCAR Euro Series team in 2026.
Their drivers Gianmarco Ercoli and Raphaël Lessard led the Free Practice overall times for the 2026 NASCAR GP Spain, giving them the early advantage heading to Saturday’s Qualifying session.
Despite Alumitec’s sweep, Free Practice proved to be competitive as Ercoli and Lessard only led by small margins. Paul Jouffreau trailed Ercoli in V8GP, while Thomas Toffel was only 0.009 seconds behind in OPEN.
With other top contenders not that far behind the Alumitec duo, Qualifying at Circuit Ricardo Tormo on Saturday morning is expected to be hotly contested.
EuroNASCAR V8GP Practice Recap
Ercoli decided to go straight for the kill on FP1. The Italian immediately put on his fresh set of tires and set a lap time of 1:41.574, which was not beaten by anyone else for the rest of the day.
This strong performance was a relief for Ercoli, who admitted that Alumitec had a difficult day at Thursday’s Prologue tests.
“After yesterday, which was a really difficult day, today we put on new tires and I tried to push a lot like Qualifying to test how good the track and the car is,” said Ercoli in an Instagram Story posted by the official EuroNASCAR account.
“Maybe I stayed on the limit too much in turn 1 and the last corner and touched the kerb, but we started on the right foot!”
Paul Jouffreau was 0.208 seconds down to Ercoli in the combined times, but the Frenchman closed the gap to Ercoli down to 0.013 seconds in FP2.
Jouffreau was sandwiched by Ercoli’s teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. The Brazilian put his adaptability skills to the test in Valencia as he showed that he has not lost his stock car racing prowess.
Vinne Meskelis justified his decision to immediately go to the top class by putting the No. 76 Team Bleekemolen Toyota in fourth, right ahead of reigning two-time champion Vittorio Ghirelli.
Toffel, Thomas Krasonis, Martin Doubek, Jordan O’Brien and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen completed the top-10 positions.
O’Brien made the jump to V8GP after he secured a last-minute deal with Hendriks Motorsport. The American finished fourth in FP1, showcasing his skills at a powerhouse team like Hendriks.
V8GP’s Free Practice was interrupted by one red flag in FP1. Vladimiros Tziortzis crashed his No. 6 Capital.com Ford at the last corner, forcing the Cypriot to sit out the rest of the day as a result.
Fabrizio Armetta was also troubled with persistent mechanical issues. The trouble lasted the entire day, leaving the Italian with no time set with his No. 22 Dinoil Toyota.
Two drivers withdrew their V8GP entries prior to Free Practice. Romain Monti withdrew after doctors advised him to sit out the event following a heavy crash in Prologue, while Andre Lortie was written out after his times were deemed to be too slow for V8GP.
EuroNASCAR V8GP FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR V8GP FP2 Results
EuroNASCAR OPEN Practice Recap
Raphaël Lessard mounted a late comeback after he was forced to sit out FP1 due to power steering issues. Lessard managed to pip out Toffel with his time of 1:42.480, edging the Swiss by just 0.009 seconds.
Toffel came close to pip Claudio Remigio Cappelli as the Free Practice leader. Cappelli demonstrated great speed in FP1 by setting the first sub 1:43 time in OPEN, but mechanical issues in FP2 limited the Italian to fourth – right behind Martin Doubek.
Sandro Tavartkiladze continued where he left off in 2025 with a fifth place result. With Bruno Mulders not able to secure a full-time seat in 2026, the Georgian will be the favorite to win the Master Trophy classification.
Thomas Dombrowski, Melvin de Groot, Gil Linster, Valentino Gambarotto and Florian Richard rounded out the top-10 classifications.
Beitske Visser’s long awaited EuroNASCAR debut saw her finish in a solid 13th position. Visser still has two seconds to gain to be able to compete at the top, but she maintained a strong lead to Lady Trophy rivals Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann and Mariam Davitidze.
Vanessa and Davitidze only finished 17th and 19th respectively, but both drivers showed promise with their rapid improvements. Vanessa gained six seconds when compared to her times from 2025, while Davitidze gained three seconds throughout the session.
The same can’t be said to Lortie, who was 19 seconds off the pace. Lortie’s best lap time was a mere 2:01.086, putting the Canadian at the risk of being lapped twice in the 15-lap races that are scheduled this weekend.
EuroNASCAR OPEN FP1 Results | EuroNASCAR OPEN FP2 Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.