Neither post-race penalty or mid-race rain can stop Paul Jouffreau as the RDV Competition driver beat his main rivals to win the 2023 EuroNASCAR 2 championship title.
EuroNASCAR 2 crowns another different title holder as Paul Jouffreau becomes the 15th champion of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series’ junior class following his success in the EuroNASCAR Finals at Circuit Zolder.
Jouffreau initially lost ground in the championship race after receiving a post-race penalty on Saturday that allowed Gil Linster to inherit the win, but the Frenchman was able to win it all thanks to an excellent victory in mixed weather conditions on Sunday.
The recap of the highly dramatic Finals races of EuroNASCAR 2 can be checked in the sections below.
Race 1 Recap
Twenty three drivers set themselves on the grid for the first race of the Finals weekend on Saturday. The green flag was waved at approximately 16:50 local time with Paul Jouffreau leading the field on dry conditions, but he lost his position to Claudio Remigio Cappelli on the run to the first corner.
Cappelli led his first EuroNASCAR laps and was gunning for the victory until his car began to experience technical issues on lap 5. With Jouffreau slowed down as well, Alberto Naska made a huge three-wide dive at turn 1 to take over the race lead.
Naska led the next four laps until drama struck on lap 9. Naska aggressively defended his position from Jouffreau at turn 1, but that in turn gave the Frenchman the ideal run for turn 2.
Both drivers continued to run side-by-side, but Jouffreau’s Ford Mustang got loose and clipped the side of Naska’s Chevrolet. The collision caused Naska to beach his car in the gravel trap, forcing the Full Course Yellow to allow the Italian to rejoin the race.
This incident prompted Naska’s fans in the livestream chat to abuse Jouffreau with acts such as fervently booing and calling the Frenchman as a clown. Nevertheless, Jouffreau is now back on the lead and would continue to hold it until the checkered flag.
While the incident may look like it’s just a racing incident between two of the most spirited drivers in the division, race control did not take the action lightly and punished Jouffreau with a 30-second penalty for causing an avoidable collision.
This penalty handed the win to Gil Linster, who finally shed his reputation as “Mr. Fourth Place” with his maiden victory. The Hendriks Motorsport driver became the 43rd different race winner in EuroNASCAR 2, as well as the first driver from Luxembourg to win any NASCAR sanctioned race.
“It was actually a very good race!” said Linster to André Wiegold after the race. “This time I didn’t use the mirror much, I just concentrated on myself. I tried to catch Jouffreau, but he was just a rocket. I’m happy that I wasn’t fourth and I hope that I will never get fourth place again!”
Linster also happens to be in close proximity of Naska and Jouffreau when they made contact, allowing the 29-year old to give his thoughts on what happened.
“From the outside, it was a hard move from Jouffreau,” said Linster. “I was behind and Naska already did a hard move into turn 1. They were going side-by-side and Naska tried to close the door on the inside. There’s no grip, so I think that was just a hard battle.”
“Jouffreau lost the car a little bit and Naska tried to put it a little bit too much to the inside. Tire touches tire and then I just saw the #54 going to the gravel.”
The penalty promotes Patrick Schober, third at the line, to second place in the final results. The final podium position was completed by top Legend Trophy driver Melvin de Groot, who continued his Zolder podium streak. It was also his second consecutive year where the podium was earned after a post-race penalty.
Vladimiros Tziortzis extended his championship lead with a fourth place finish, After running as low as tenth, the Cypriot got himself a ten point lead for the decider race on Sunday. Roberto Benedetti rounds the top-5 positions, his first in six years.
Jack Davidson claimed the Rookie Trophy win in sixth place. More importantly for the Scotsman, it also gave him the lead in the Trophy overall rankings after Thomas Dombrowski suffered from numerous collisions.
Despite the Frenchman racing with a car that looked like it had came from the trenches and his hood was flapping open at one stage of the race, he survived to finish in 20th place – seven laps down from Linster.
Jouffreau’s penalty demoted him to seventh, but crucially he managed to set the fastest lap of the race. Michael Bleekemolen, Martin Doubek and Riccardo Romagnoli followed Sunday’s pole sitter for the final positions in the top-10.
Eric de Doncker finished eleventh on his return to the sport while Federico Monti enjoyed a strong 15th place result in his EuroNASCAR 2 debut. Naska was eventually classified in 18th while Cappelli ended up in 22nd position.
Cappelli’s teammate Thomas Toffel didn’t have much luck either as the Swiss’ car broke down at the Jochen Rindtbocht on the opening lap. Last but not least, Sven van Laere’s totaled car meant that he will not take part in both the Saturday and Sunday race at Zolder.
Race 2 Recap
Twenty-three EuroNASCAR 2 drivers prepared themselves on the grid for the start of their season finale race on Sunday, held at approximately 11:20 AM under the sunny, but cloudy skies of Circuit Zolder.
The EuroNASCAR 2 field got a special guest for their “start your engines” command. Marc Goossens, who sadly failed to take the start in the EuroNASCAR PRO races due to the crash that Sven van Laere had, got himself a new job as the man to do the honors.
Paul Jouffreau once again led the field to the green flag, but this time the RDV Competition beat Martin Doubek for the holeshot. The Frenchman’s pace was exquisite and with Jouffreau continuing to lead lap after lap, no one seemed to be able to challenge him.
That is, until a massive curveball was introduced on lap 9: Rain. The floodgates opened from out of nowhere and with the race being too far in for a live pit stop to work, everyone must contend with worsening weather conditions for the last third of the race.
The conditions caught out some drivers, such as Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Michael Bleekemolen, but Jouffreau pressed on. Even with a Full Course Yellow caused by Michael’s spin to the gravel trap at Turn 2, Jouffreau kept pushing and adapted himself to the conditions.
In the end, Jouffreau survived the treacherous conditions to win by 7.575 seconds. With Vladimiros Tziortzis only able to finish fifth on the line, it was enough for the French youngster to win the 2023 EuroNASCAR 2 championship as he needed the Cypriot to finish third or lower.
“It’s unbelievable!” said Jouffreau in the Victory Lane. “I switched teams in winter and traveled to Valencia with high ambitions. It’ll take some time to say to myself that I’m a EuroNASCAR champion. We earned it with the guys who supported me at RDV Competition. It’s just amazing that we have achieved our goal this weekend!”
“It was really tough to control the car in the wet. I had to use a karting-style racing line not to lose control of the car because Doubek was fast behind me. If I made a mistake, he would get past me and I wouldn’t be the champion. That was the five hardest laps of my life, but we made it!”
Both Doubek and Patrick Schober were running second and third when the rain came and they too held on to the podium positions, giving them a great way to end their 2023 season campaign.
Melvin de Groot was fourth at the checkered flag, but a 5-second time penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow meant that he and Tziortzis swapped places in the final results.
The Dutch successfully defended his Legend Trophy honor while the Cypriot ended his season with 424 points, just four points shy of the title.
It was a disappointing end for Tziortzis to have his title bid come up short given his early season domination, but his achievements in 2023 represented a new high for the Academy Motorsport driver. Given the support that he received from his nation, Tziortzis without a doubt is going to be a star in the future.
Gil Linster did not finish in fourth, but instead came home sixth. The Luxembourger was struggling when the rain got worse, but his strong Finals outing was rewarded with a third place finish in the overall standings.
Right behind the Hendriks driver is Jack Davidson, who secured the overall win in Rookie Trophy. The Scotsman beat Thomas Dombrowski both on the track and on the Trophy. The Frenchman’s Rookie Trophy hopes were effectively doomed with his poor result on Saturday.
Fabrizio Armetta finished ninth ahead of Cappelli, both completing the top-10 positions and the Legend Trophy podium. Thomas Toffel came back from 23rd – and last – place to finish 11th, more than enough for the Swiss driver to finish third in Rookie Trophy and earn the bonus points for most positions gained.
Alberto Naska’s already slim title chances were dashed when he encountered SpeedHouse’s Arianna Casoli on lap 14. Casoli once again caused issue to the Italian, as indicated by a 30-second time penalty for “blocking and causing an avoidable collision” that she received post-race.
That collision that Casoli had with Naska caused her compatriot to have a race-ending spin. To make matters worse, Naska’s retirement meant that he didn’t even finish in the top-5 in the standings as Schober and Doubek ended the year in fourth and fifth respectively.
Given Naska already had problems with Casoli during the previous round at Oschersleben, there’s little doubt that the YouTube superstar is going to be furious with the driver with the most EuroNASCAR 2 starts in history.
Paul Jouffreau’s triumph culminates a highly successful sophomore season for the RDV Competition driver. With three race wins, eleven top-5’s and twelve top-10 finishes, the Frenchman is easily the standout driver in EuroNASCAR 2 this year.
He started the year strongly with three podiums in the first four races, but he truly set the world on fire when Frédéric Gabillon entrusted him with an EuroNASCAR PRO seat starting from the third round at Vallelunga.
The double duty experience unlocked Jouffreau’s true potential and he went on a hot streak of results. Wins in both EuroNASCAR 2 and EuroNASCAR PRO came to his way and with his rivals suffering from misfortunes, he clawed his way back to the top and ultimately win the championship in dramatic fashion.
There’s no doubt that Jouffreau is already a star in the world of stock car racing and with a full-time promotion to EuroNASCAR PRO coming soon, the sky is going to be the limit for the 19-year old driver from Blaye.
FINAL 2023 EURONASCAR 2 STANDINGS
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.