Gianmarco Ercoli returns to Victory Lane in Brands Hatch and brings home the maiden victory for debutants Alumitec Racing in EuroNASCAR.
Brands Hatch was once again kind to 2023 series champion Gianmarco Ercoli. Ercoli dominated the first race of American SpeedFest 12 to secure Alumitec Racing’s first ever victory, nearly seven years to the date of the Italian’s maiden EuroNASCAR PRO win.
Ercoli transformed the Pole Position that he acquired in Qualifying into a perfect race performance. The Italian defended his lead from Vittorio Ghirelli and Jack Davidson in the opening lap and never looked back.
A late caution period – caused by Claudio Remigio Cappelli’s crash at Paddock Hill on lap 33 – created a tense moment for Ercoli. The Alumitec Racing driver controlled the restart perfectly and made enough gap to his great rival Ghirelli, securing victory by 0.770 seconds.
“Racing here is always stressful,” said Ercoli in Victory Lane. “When I arrived at the 32nd lap, I thought to myself ‘This group is really good today!’ and then one corner later there’s an accident.”
“I’m happy with the car, it’s the first win for Alumitec Racing and congrats to the team for their great job. It’s an incredible race, in this track you can’t have one moment to relax.”
“I think we can change the way of the championship. I’m sure for [my chances] this race because in Valencia and in Vallelunga we battled with little mistakes and can’t show our potential. Today, we can change the line and the rules!”
Ghirelli might have lost the war, but he was more than happy to get second place. After all, the reigning champion nearly missed the race had it not been for PK Carsport’s amazing teamwork.
As it’s now known, Ghirelli’s No. 24 infitto.eu / Rellumix Chevrolet Camaro were destroyed in Thomas Dombrowski’s horror shunt during Friday’s Free Practice.
Despite this massive setback, Ghirelli remained calm. The Italian was confident that PK Carsport was able to rebuild the car. Ghirelli’s confidence was vindicated when the No. 24 machine turned up as good as new 24 hours later.
The champion did his best to try and catch up to Ercoli. He eventually settled for second place as he had lost precious time battling Davidson. This was still enough to move him up to the championship lead for the first time in 2025.
The aforementioned restart proved to be a source of major drama. Prior to the Overtime restart, drivers were given the order to pass any lapped cars that stood in between them.
These lapped cars were Jordan Wallace and Federico Monti. Wallace was in the middle of the pack, so moving past him was easy. However, Academy Motorsport co-owner Monti was all the way at the front. Ercoli had lapped Monti for a second time moments before the FCY was called.
The order to pass the lapped cars was exactly that – an order to only overtake anyone one lap down or more. Crucially, there’s also the possibility of everyone not being informed about the restart in time. This would caught out Thomas Krasonis, Bruno Mulders and Fabrizio Armetta, who all jumped the gun way too early.
They passed not only Monti, but also the opponents that were in front of them. Krasonis ended up getting “punished” with a blown out left-rear tire on the final lap. However, Mulders and Armetta went on to cross the line in third and fourth respectively.
After a lengthy post-race investigation, it was decided that they were guilty of breaking the restart rules. As a result, they have to drop down positions based on how many cars they overtook in their restart – four for Mulders and one for Armetta.
All of this resulted in a well deserved first EuroNASCAR PRO podium finish – and Junior Trophy win – for Scotland’s own Jack Davidson. Davidson knew that an opportunity like this can only come once and he took it with both hands.
The No. 21 GT Omega Camaro operated by Davidson’s family-owned team Lux Motorsport also cooperated greatly.
After two rounds full of mechanical issues, the pink machine was working perfectly and gave Davidson everything that it could muster to bring home Lux’s first major piece of silverware in the top class.
Armetta’s demotion to fourth still marked his best finish since his lone podium at Zolder in 2023. It represented a great result for Club Competition, who had stellar performances in both divisions on Saturday.
Liam Hezemans lacked race pace and could only finish fifth. However, he set the fastest lap of the race. This meant that the Rette Jones Racing driver would start from pole in Sunday’s race.
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen led home Mulders in sixth and seventh. Giorgio Maggi finished a lonely eighth while Julien Rehberg fends off Vladimiros Tziortzis and Martin Doubek for what turned out to be ninth.
Challenger Trophy victory went to Davit Kajaia, who held off Max Lanza for the win. Cappelli’s late retirement, coupled with Monti being stuck two laps down, meant that Jordan Wallace got a Trophy podium in 18th despite finishing one lap down from the leaders.
Garrett Lowe lacked any speed during the race and was only able to finish 14th. However, the American was still luckier than Paul Jouffreau, who became the race’s first retirement due to suspected engine issues.
One solace that Jouffreau has is that he managed to set the second best lap time of the race. This gave the Frenchman a chance for redemption in Race 2, whose grid was determined by the fastest lap times from Race 1.
EuroNASCAR PRO Race 1 Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.