Victor Neumann completed a successful finale in Circuit Zolder by clinching the overall Rookie Trophy win in EN2 and finishing in a career-best fifth place in ENPRO.
Victor Neumann ended his maiden EuroNASCAR campaign with two impressive results at Circuit Zolder. Not only did the Frenchman score his career-best finish in EuroNASCAR PRO, he also took the overall Rookie Trophy win in EuroNASCAR 2.
Neumann entered the EuroNASCAR Finals with a goal to catch SpeedHouse Racing’s Florian Richard in the Rookie Trophy battle. Things started well on Friday Practice after he comfortably led the Rookie Trophy rivals by some margin.
The driver of Marko Stipp Motorsport’s No. 47 AIX Camaro was nearly a second ahead of Simone Giussani, the next best driver, while Richard trailed by three full seconds.
Neumann retained his advantage in Saturday Qualifying with an eighth place result, but in Race 1 he didn’t have the pace to match Bremotion’s Julien Rehberg.
Still, a top-10 finish gave Neumann second position in Rookie Trophy. More importantly, with Richard only 15th, Neumann has the advantage in the points heading to Race 2 on Sunday.
The Frenchman opted to play safe and kept a steady pace in the AIX Camaro. The decision paid off as he took the checkered flag in 11th overall while Richard was only 18th.
With another Rookie Trophy runner-up finish, Neumann clinched the Rookie Trophy overall victory with a total of 408 points – 12 points ahead of Richard and 21 ahead of Rehberg.
“I’m so happy!” said Neumann after the EN2 finale. “It was such a team effort, we had pressure all weekend because we wanted to win it. The pressure was a privilege though, it was great!”
“Getting that pressure off is beautiful, until the checkered flag I was like “I could still bin it now!” so I let everyone go and just chill. Not the way you want to win it, but let’s get it, let’s get the job done and I’m really happy with everyone!”
To make things even better, Neumann also performed really well in EuroNASCAR’s top division. He narrowly missed on his first ENPRO top-10 finish on a road course on Saturday, but he went one step better on Sunday.
Neuman took full advantage of the opening dramas to move up to fifth position. He stayed there for the rest of the race, securing both his first ENPRO top-5 finish and a Junior Trophy podium on his very last attempt.
“I hope some people learn about my name after this race!” said Neumann after the ENPRO finale. “It’s the fastest I’ve been all weekend on used tires.”
“It’s the last time I could ever get a Junior podium and we got it. I’m really happy with that. We went to war, we got back, we didn’t get any scars or anything, I just loved it. That was all I got, I didn’t have anything left in the back.”
Neumann has yet to know his racing plans for 2025, but the 26-year old would love to not only compete in EuroNASCAR again next year, but also to give a shot at competing in US stock car racing.
“I’d love to be back and I’d love to give a go in the US as well, we’ll see what the future brings us!” said Neumann. “It’s a beautiful championship, the team is absolutely unbelievable.”
“I want to thank Marko Stipp Motorsport and AIX Investment Group, it wouldn’t have been possible without them. They’re just brilliant people and I loved every single second of this championship!”
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Last Updated: 27 November 2024