Raphaël Lessard survived three caution periods in the first EuroNASCAR OPEN race at Vallelunga to once again slash his overall deficit to Thomas Toffel.
Raphaël Lessard once again lowered his deficit to EuroNASCAR OPEN championship leader Thomas Toffel after he took his fourth win of the 2026 season in Race 1 for the NASCAR GP Italy at Vallelunga.
Lessard capitalized on Toffel’s Qualifying penalty to lead the race from start to finish. The Canadian did have to survive two restarts, however, as Race 1 was interrupted by three caution periods and a yellow flag finish due to time constraints.
“A win is a win for sure,” said the driver of the #11 Alumitec Racing Ford in Victory Lane. “I would like to finish it on the green, but I don’t think Toffel could have passed me.”
“He was super fast at the exit going up the hill. No matter where I put the car back wide open and the best exit I could get, he still catched up to me.”
“We have to get back to work and try to find a little bit more traction, but I’m really happy. Can’t thank the Alumitec Racing guys, they gave me an awesome car again and we’ll go to work for tomorrow!”
The first of the three cautions was called on lap 2 following a crash between Marc-Antoine D’Amour and Kenko Miura.
D’Amour was running in 19th when he lost control of his No. 75 Rousseau Metal Camaro at Curva Grande. Kenko Miura, unable to see what’s in front of him, then crashed his No. 74 Team Japan Needs24 Toyota to D’Amour’s machine, ending both drivers’ race on the spot.
The race was restarted on lap 5. The green flag period lasted until lap 12, when the second caution was brought out for Andre Lortie’s crash on the last corner.
During the restart, race control used their right to extend the race distance and turned Race 1 into a 17-lap affair. The extension was for nothing, however, as the final caution was triggered almost immediately after the second restart.
Beitske Visser got into a collision with her Lady Trophy rival Mariam Davitidze at Cimini. This contact blew Visser’s rear-right tire out and left her in a dangerous spot, leaving race control with no choice but to bring the caution for the final time.
The string of cautions frustrated Toffel, who believed that he had a chance to win had the race stayed green for the finish.
Claudio Remigio Cappelli was initially credited with a third place finish, but the Italian was penalized post-race for falling foul on the same ride height infraction that Toffel received during Qualifying.
That left Vladimiros Tziortzis to grab the final podium position, his first since Race 1 at Paul Ricard. Martin Doubek was also promoted to fourth, leaving Cappelli to be consigned to fifth in the final results.
Cappelli did win the Legend Trophy however, as his closest rival Melvin de Groot finished outside the top-10 in 11th position.
Sandro Tavartkiladze continued his run of Master Trophy wins with his sixth place finish, beating Jens Beeusaert and Valentino Gambarotto who finished ninth and tenth respectively.
Gil Linster and Thomas Dombrowski suffered major blows to their title chances as they could only finish seventh and eighth, costing them 10 and 12 points to Toffel in the overall standings.
Davitidze’s contact with Visser left her with a post-race penalty that handed the Lady Trophy win to Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann, who finished 14th.
OPEN Race 1 Results
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