Thomas Krasonis becomes the first NASCAR winner to hail from Greece with his victory in EuroNASCAR OPEN’s season opener at Valencia.
Greece finally found their motorsport hero. Thomas Krasonis brought his nation to the history books after he took his first EuroNASCAR OPEN victory in the Valencia NASCAR Fest at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Much like the great Greek heroes and legends, Krasonis’ win did not come easily. The Greek lost his lead to Claudio Remigio Cappeli in the opening lap and had to follow the Italian for a while.
Krasonis received good fortune when Cappelli’s No. 5 Cremona Gronde Ford started to lock up its front right tire. The constant lock up created a flat spot in Cappelli’s car that slowed his progress.
This problem gave Krasonis the chance to repass Cappelli at the start of lap 5. It’s a lead that the Greek would not relinquish, as he comfortably dominated his opposition to secure his breakthrough victory.
“I’m sure that this is just the beginning!” said Krasonis in Victory Lane. “Thanks to my sponsor, Alon Day, my PK team, my personal trainer and to everybody who managed this project.”
“We came to the opening race very prepared, so all I have to say is that winning doesn’t come easy. I made a small mistake with the late braking in the start and I will learn from that.”
“It’s a good experience for the race in PRO where I need to go deeper. I don’t have anything else to say, it’s been a great Saturday!”
Krasonis also set the fastest lap, giving him pole position for Sunday’s Race 2. In fact, he also did the same in EuroNASCAR PRO’s race, ensuring that the Greek gets the best seat in the house for the start of both Sunday races.
The duel for second featured plenty of twists. After losing his lead to Krasonis, Cappelli continued to struggle with more brake lock ups. Eventually, the tires cried enough and it burst with 7 laps to go.
Martin Doubek found himself up to second, but he also suffered a puncture of his own. The front right of Doubek’s No. 7 Orion Ford Mustang went down with just three laps to go.
Doubek’s heartbreak is joy for Gil Linster, who moved up to second a few laps prior. Linster took advantage of a restart caused by a FCY that was called after a spin by Valentino Gambarotto.
Linster jumped past Patrick Schober during that restart. Schober said afterwards that radio issues left him unable to react in time for restart. Still, Schober managed to salvage a third place finish thanks to Doubek’s retirement.
Melvin de Groot initially crossed the line in fourth, but he was penalized for speeding under FCY. De Groot was demoted to seventh with his penalty, but he had enough gap to secure a Legend Trophy win.
The Dutchman’s penalty meant that Thomas Toffel got promoted to fourth in the end. Toffel made decent progress after his Qualifying woes. Fifth went to Thomas Dombrowski, the inaugural winner for the brand new Master Trophy.
Sandro Tavartkiladze had a rollercoaster race on his way to a sixth place finish. Starting from fifth, the Georgian showed his inexperience by making a poor getaway and dropping down to 14th after the opening lap.
However, Tavartkiladze pushed hard once he got to the rhythm. He picked off his opponents one by one and regained sixth thanks to the misfortune from others.
Kenko Miura, Roberto Benedetti and Dominique Schaak completed the top-10. Arianna Casoli regained her throne as the Lady Trophy winner after she beat Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann.
While Happinessa’s best lap was marginally quicker than Casoli’s, the Italian’s lap times fluctuated less. This consistency allowed Casoli to take a commanding Trophy win, even after both of them were penalized for speeding under FCY.
EURONASCAR OPEN RACE 1 RESULTS
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.