Jacob Parry secured a commanding Rookie Challenge debut win in the Valencia NASCAR Fest, which saw a record setting 17 entries for the division.
The 2026 NASCAR Euro Series season started off strong with a record setting Rookie Challenge round in Valencia.
A record field of 17 drivers contested the 2026 NASCAR GP Spain, beating the previous Rookie Challenge record of 14 that was set by the Valencia and Zolder rounds from 2025.
The field featured a healthy mix of rookies and veterans, giving Rookie Challenge a competitive field across the board. Among the rookies is CAAL Racing driver Jacob Parry, who made a great impression after he took his maiden victory in dominating fashion.
The Welshman led the first session and finished second in the second session, giving him an insurmountable points lead even after bonus points were taken into consideration.
“It’s incredible, honestly!” said Parry in Victory Lane. “I came in just hoping to keep the car on track and not make any pressure for the team.”
“To come away with a win is beyond what I can imagine! It’s nothing like I had experienced, the speed as you hit the straights is crazy. The power is insane, but it handles very well for a car with so much power.”
The battle for the podium positions was hotly contested as it saw a three-way tie for second. Jens Beeusaert, Yann Cristovao and Sandro Kajaia all finished their round with 72 points, prompting the use of tiebreakers to determine who gets the podium.
With the results from the final session taken into consideration, Beausaert and Cristovao completed the podium ahead of Kajaia, whose lower performance in the session was offset by having one of the highest bonus points received.
Robin Bleekemolen completed the top-5 positions ahead of Kelvin Hassell, who came out ahead of a four-way tie for seventh.
The tie was resolved in favor of Yann Schar, who had the best performance in the final session. Maral Ghazarian, Andreas Kuchelbacher and Mike Wise completed the top-10 positions.
Gianni Lasserre, Nuno Caetano, Henrik Peters, Nicole Davidson, Ofek Eliyahu, André Lortie and Maximilian Seth rounded out the final classification.
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