Jordan O’Brien claimed the maiden EuroNASCAR victory that he had been waiting for with a dominant performance in V8GP’s first race at Autodrom Most.
During the 2025 edition of the NASCAR GP Czech Republic, Jordan O’Brien was stripped from his maiden NASCAR Euro Series victory in the OPEN division after he was handed a 5-second time penalty for restart procedure violations.
Fast forward one year later and O’Brien can now definitively say that he is a EuroNASCAR race winner after he took his first V8GP win in Race 1 of the 2026 NASCAR GP Czech Republic.
With his maiden victory secured, O’Brien managed to break the long winless streak for American drivers in the series. The last time an American won in Europe was in 2012, when Ben Kennedy took the checkered flag in the inaugural race at Tours Speedway.
In a funny irony, O’Brien revealed that it was Hendriks Motorsport – his current team – who submitted the penalty that ultimately took his 2025 OPEN win away.
“You guys know the story of last year, this place has a special place in my heart!” said O’Brien in Victory Lane.
“Last year I got a penalty for a mistake on the restart and ironically, the protest came from my team this year! They owed me this one, but we got it back, so it’s all right, we’re feeling good.”
The win was not an easy one, as O’Brien was involved in a traditional Autodrom Most first chicane melee that took the right side door panel away from his #50 true industries / Nanolex Ford Mustang.
“When you’re leading, the last thing you want to do is to think about the big stuff,” adds the Las Vegas resident. “You just try to make as little mistakes as possible, look at the time delta in the dashboard, keep it the same and preserve the tires for tomorrow.”
“We had a good lap for tomorrow and I gotta say, this side of the car looks great but the other side is a little less aerodynamic! We were a bit down on top speed with the damage, but we’ll get it sorted for tomorrow.”
O’Brien battled hard with Thomas Krasonis in the early stages of the race. The two drivers engaged in a thrilling battle until Krasonis missed the chicane on lap 8, dropping the Greek down to the clutches of a fast recovering Martin Doubek.
Krasonis’ unforced error gave Gianmarco Ercoli a chance to fight for the victory, but Ercoli chose to safely finish in second after he sensed a throttle issue developing in his No. 11 Alumitec Ford Mustang.
Krasonis held on to the podium, which was enough for him to take the win in the Junior Trophy. Vittorio Ghirelli finished behind his teammate while Doubek came home in fifth, having survived a late tire rub that cost him a chance for a home V8GP podium.
Quasi-teammate Logan Bearden took the Challenger Trophy win in sixth, the best EuroNASCAR finish for the Leander born driver.
Vinnie Meskelis, Jack Davidson, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Garrett Lowe completed the top-10. Lowe in particular had to charge from last place after he missed the chicane on the opening lap, forcing the Bremotion driver to stop and wait for a safe rejoin.
An unsafe rejoin penalty was administered to Vladimiros Tziortzis post-race, following a last lap off-track excursion that led him to rejoin right in front of Brenna Schubert and Michael Bleekemolen.
Thomas Toffel was unable to take the initial start due to rear axle problems, but the Swiss driver managed to set the fastest lap of 1:39.971 once he got his No. 34 machine out to the track.
This fastest lap was not only the new race lap record for EuroNASCAR cars at Autodrom Most, it was also enough for Toffel to get pole position for Race 2.
With this result, Toffel became the first driver since Tziortzis to secure pole position in both classes on the same weekend. Toffel had already claimed the EuroNASCAR OPEN pole position in Qualifying.
V8GP Race 1 Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.