Martin Doubek became the first driver to win multiple championships in EuroNASCAR 2 after he scored enough points at Zolder, a round that was dominated by Claudio Remigio Cappelli.
EuroNASCAR 2 has its first repeat champion after 17 years. Martin Doubek from Czechia is the driver that earned his place on the record books after he became the first to achieve this feat in the 2024 EuroNASCAR Finals at Circuit Zolder.
Doubek’s second title was practically sealed on Saturday after Patrick Schober and Gil Linster hit some troubles. Schober had an off track moment while Linster had a driveshaft issue, costing both drivers the opportunity to have a realistic chance for the title on Sunday.
The event itself was won by Claudio Remigio Cappelli, who swept both Belgium races to secure Academy Motorsport’s first weekend sweep since Vladimiros Tziortzis at Brands Hatch in 2023.
Race 1 Recap
With clouds threatening to make an impact, 25 drivers suited up and made themselves ready for the Saturday race. Linster and Cappelli led the field to the green flag at approximately 17:00 CEST and both retained their positions on the opening lap.
There was some early drama at Lucien Bianchibocht, where Kenko Miura botched his overtake attempt on Luli del Castello. Both drivers crashed to the inside wall, but fortunately their cars were positioned in such a way that the race could be continued safely.
Linster led the race at the front and while he might be lacking overall speed compared to the chasers, he had just enough on his tank to fend off multiple challenges from Cappelli.
That is, until lap 12 where the No. 50 Mirkaafenaerenauto.lu Toyota Camry suddenly coasted to a halt on the short chute heading to the Jacky Ickx chicane.
This handed the lead to Cappelli, who now had to defend his position from Doubek and Thomas Krasonis with just three laps remaining.
Cappelli did have some issues on his own, but the speed of the No. 5 Cremona Gronde Ford Mustang was immaculate and the Italian easily fended off Doubek and Krasonis to take his second win in 2024.
“I feel good!” said Cappelli, who also won the Legend Trophy classifications. “I thought I had no chance because I lost the gear knob on the first lap, so that was painful.”
“I also lost some braking power, but the car was very good so I was able to compensate for that. I’m unhappy for Gil because he was leading, but I only saw him losing power and I steered left.”
“I thought there was a yellow flag at the beginning, but then I saw Doubek right behind me and so it was just go, go, go! Martin was thinking about the championship, so I was able to relax.”
Doubek opted to play safe, a decision that paid off greatly thanks to Linster and Schober’s issues. Moments before Linster’s retirement, Schober had a snap oversteer at Earste corner that caused him to go rallycrossing.
The off-track moment dropped Schober from fifth to eighth place, leaving the Austrian with a 45 points deficit to catch with just one race to go.
Krasonis was pleased with his second podium finish of 2024. He dedicated his result to George Baldock, the English-born Greek footballer who sadly passed away on 9 October 2024.
Melvin de Groot narrowly missed out on a podium in fourth, having found late race pace to move up several places. Jack Davidson continued his top-5 finish streak with fellow youngster Julien Rehberg returning to the top step of Rookie Trophy in sixth.
Thomas Toffel had an extraordinary race with the No. 34 SIMATOK Camaro. The Swiss went from 24th to seventh and even took the fastest lap, giving him his maiden pole position for the final race on Sunday.
Thomas Dombrowski and Victor Neumann completed the top-10 with Arianna Casoli in 22nd winning the Lady Trophy by default as a result of del Castello’s crash.
The debutants have a quiet, but clean first race. Andres Beers, who is looking to join EuroNASCAR full-time in 2025, was 16th while Arthur Roche finished 18th in Team FJ’s 2025 test car.
EuroNASCAR 2 Race 1 Results
Race 2 Recap
Rain came to Circuit Zolder on Sunday morning and the track was partially drying when the EuroNASCAR 2 drivers started their second race at 11:30 CEST. Stewards noted this issue and ordered the drivers to start in single file.
Fitting for the division’s reputation for being unpredictable, the season finale saw a new front-row starter duo in Toffel and Cappelli.
Both drivers agreed before the race that they would continue to go side-by-side until Turn 2. From then, they’re free to attack each other and whoever is behind must chase the leader.
Cappelli was the one to take the advantage, maintaining enough momentum to pass Toffel at Turn 2. Toffel quickly hounded the Italian, but so too did the other two Thomases: Dombrowski and Krasonis.
Dombrowski and Krasonis started from the second row and quickly found speed in their cars to chase Toffel. The battle culminated on lap 6 where Dombrowski found some drive at the exit of Kleine chicane.
The Frenchman went side-by-side with Toffel for the Villeneuve chicane, but the Swiss driver wasn’t going to surrender his position easily.
Toffel valiantly defended from Dombrowski and completed his defense at the penultimate corner. Just a corner later, Krasonis got by Dombrowski and Toffel was free to chase Cappelli once again.
The second half of the race saw Toffel regain the four seconds that he had lost due to the “battle of the Thomas”. He was lapping half a second faster than Cappelli, but he ran out of laps.
Cappelli gained just enough of an advantage to take the checkered flag once more. Cappelli’s sweep allowed him to seal the Legend Trophy overall victory, narrowly beating de Groot by just eight points.
“It was a tough race and I sweat a lot because in the beginning I tried to not take too many risks and use my brain,” said Cappelli in Victory Lane.
“I spoke with Toffel before the race and we agreed to keep our line and start attacking only in the second corner.”
“The car was very good and the issues with the brakes came later than yesterday. The handling of the car was perfect, so I was able to compensate and in the end it was perfect!”
Toffel and Krasonis completed the podium with Dombrowski and Schober completing the top-5, but the real star of the day was Doubek.
The Czech driver started from sixth and kept his ground, knowing that a 19th place finish was enough to secure his second EN2 title.
No unnecessary risk was taken by Doubek and despite coming real close to Schober several times, the Hendriks driver opted to stay behind to lock his championship victory.
“I didn’t want to risk it and I’m so happy,” said Doubek after the race. “I just wanted to secure the points and we won it again! I’m really happy, now we have two titles so it’s a good feeling.”
“I have no words, I’m so fucking happy! There will be a small party for sure here and I will do the big party at home later!”
Despite the damp conditions, the race was very clean. All 25 starters managed to cross the finish line with Davidson, Linster, Rehberg and de Groot filling the top-10 positions.
Rehberg took a back-to-back win in the Rookie Trophy, but the German had already lost enough ground to Neumann at Most and Oschersleben in the overall standings.
Neumann therefore became the overall Rookie Trophy winner of 2024, giving his team Marko Stipp Motorsport a successful Trophy defense.
Del Castello in 20th position was the winner of the Lady Trophy with Casoli finishing a lap down in 24th. Roche was the only other driver to be lapped, finishing two laps down after an unscheduled stop
EuroNASCAR 2 Race 2 Results
Championship Standings
With 568 points and an advantage of 43 points to his nearest competitor, Doubek has established a template for future champions to follow.
Despite coming short of the title, Schober remains pleased with his second place finish as did Krasonis, who grabbed a career-best third place with 510 points.
Toffel’s remarkable improvement in 2024 was rewarded with 498 points and a fourth place in the overall championship. Cappelli’s incredible string of three wins in four Playoffs races gave the Italian a ticket to finish in the top-5 with 481 points.
Davidson, Linster, de Groot, Dombrowski and Neumann completed the top-10 positions. Arianna Casoli finished her ninth year in EuroNASCAR in 19th position.
2024 EuroNASCAR 2 Final Championship Standings
Following the promotion of Paul Jouffreau and Vladimiros Tziortzis as well as the departure of Alberto Naska, Doubek positioned himself as the leading favorite for the EuroNASCAR 2 title in 2024 and his history making year has proved the predictions correct.
Two first lap incidents at Brands Hatch and at Oschersleben were the only real blips of the Czech’s season, a dominant year that saw him take six wins, 10 podiums, and four pole positions to become EuroNASCAR 2’s first multiple-time champion.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 27 November 2024