José Antonio Peñalta continues his perfect EuroNASCAR Rookie Challenge season after he beat Maxim van Laere in a tightly contested battle at Autodrom Most.
Three months away from the EuroNASCAR stock cars did not slow down José Antonio Peñalta in the slightest. Peñalta returned to his winning ways at Autodrom Most after he narrowly secured the Rookie Challenge victory against Maxim van Laere.
Both drivers took one round win each: Maxim in the first session when the track was at its wettest, followed by Peñalta in the second session.
In both sessions, it was the other driver who came home second. With Peñalta and Maxim tied in points, it came down to who had the least penalty time accumulated. The Spaniard was then declared as the winner thanks to his smaller penalty times.
“It was good, but I was too slow in the first timed session as the track was wet and our target time was too high,” Penalta said in Victory Lane. “The second session was better. We went a little bit slower but had a constant speed.”
“In heavy rain it was very difficult because there was a lot of aquaplaning. There was a lot of water on the main straight. In the second session, it was better because it had stopped raining and there the sun came out to dry the track.”
Andreas Kuchelbacher maintains his outside title chances with another podium finish. SpeedHouse teammate Nuno Caetano again missed out on the podium in fourth, just in front of top double duty driver Davide Frulio.
Daniel Boys, who was tapped to replace Federico Monti at Academy Motorsport, was sixth ahead of Bruno Mulders. Nicole Davidson topped the four-way female drivers contest in eighth.
Brenna Schubert was ninth on the American’s first ever EuroNASCAR appearance. Schubert is part of BS+ Competition’s Prodigy Racing League team that Garrett Lowe used to compete with prior to Lowe’s jump to EuroNASCAR.
Yann Cristovao was only tenth ahead of Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann and Robin Bleekemolen. Robin’s EuroNASCAR debut was hampered by car issues that prevented her from going out in the second session. Sebastian Roiko completed the classifications in 13th position.
Peñalta’s three-peat ensured that the SpeedHouse academy talent entered the Playoffs as the championship leader with 228 points. Maxim trails by 18 points in second with Kuchelbacher 29 points behind in third.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.