Thomas Krasonis and Thomas Toffel won the Stromwatches.com Pole Awards at Most, but Jordan O’Brien set the new qualifying lap record for EuroNASCAR in Czechia.
Official lap records for the NASCAR Euro Series at Autodrom Most were shattered during the qualifying sessions for the 2026 NASCAR GP Czech Republic.
Record times that were set in 2024, back when Most was freshly resurfaced, was beaten by the drivers in EuroNASCAR V8GP and OPEN thanks to the grippier Hoosier tires that were introduced for this season.
In the end, it was Jordan O’Brien who set the new outright Qualifying lap record at Most with a time of 1:39.245, set during the American’s Q2 attempt. However, pole position itself went to Thomas Krasonis, who beat O’Brien in Superpole with a time of 1:39.389.
EuroNASCAR OPEN’s new record was claimed by their pole sitter Thomas Toffel, who lapped the 4.212 kilometer circuit with a time of 1:39.635 in OPEN’s Superpole session.
EuroNASCAR V8GP Qualifying Recap
Anticipation for a record breaking Qualifying was high after drivers discovered that the new Hoosier tires allowed them to set new unofficial record times in Friday’s Practice sessions.
The resulting sessions did not disappoint, as fans were treated with the fastest EuroNASCAR Qualifying that the NASCAR GP Czech Republic has ever seen.
Q1 and Q2 saw Jordan O’Brien as the leading candidate for pole position. O’Brien led the times in both Q1 and Q2 with his #50 true industries / Nanolex Ford Mustang, both times breaking the unofficial lap record that Thomas Toffel set in Practice.
Unfortunately, O’Brien then fumbled his two hot lap opportunities on Superpole. This gave the opportunity for Thomas Krasonis to beat the American to the punch, securing the Greek’s first pole of the year and his second overall in the top class.
“I think the results speak for themselves!” said Krasonis after the sessions. “They were showing some good lap times and they were pushing at the beginning, but we knew where our car stands.”
“Finally we have a pole position! I dedicate this to my coach Alon Day, who was making fun of me yesterday, saying that I’m ‘a snail’ because I have zero Pole Awards, so coach, here’s one for this year!”
O’Brien joined Krasonis on the front row with Vittorio Ghirelli and Gianmarco Ercoli lining up from the second row. Paul Jouffreau, who nearly missed Q2 altogether as he was only 15th fastest in Q1, was fifth.
Fabrizio Armetta, Toffel, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Davit Kajaia and Vinnie Meskelis completed the top-10.
A notable thing to note from Superpole was that eight different teams sent at least one representative to the pole shootout.
Only PK Carsport (Krasonis and Ghirelli) and Team Bleekemolen (Sebastiaan and Meskelis) had multiple drivers in the session, a remarkable showcase of EuroNASCAR’s parity amongst the top competitors.
Disappointing sessions were had by Martin Doubek and Nelson Piquet Jr., who was only 13th and 15th fastest respectively. The same story was told by SpeedHouse, whose three-car squad were all eliminated in Q1.
O’Brien’s girlfriend and fellow racer Brenna Schubert qualified 20th. Schubert, who made her proper V8GP debut at Most after her two non starts at Paul Ricard, was the sole female driver in the top class.
V8GP Combined Qualifying Results
EuroNASCAR OPEN Qualifying Recap
The previous rounds of the EuroNASCAR OPEN season had witnessed multiple tug-of-war battles for supremacy between Thomas Toffel and Raphael Lessard.
Their battle was resumed at Most as they fought tooth and nail for pole position during Qualifying. While Lessard got the early advantage in Q1, it was Toffel who had the last laugh after he set OPEN’s new Qualifying lap record in the Superpole shootout.
Toffel’s pole position marked the Swiss driver’s first pole since his maiden Stromwatches.com Pole Award at Brands Hatch last year.
“I had the advantage to drive the two divisions,” said Toffel after his OPEN Superpole attempt. “We weren’t happy with little things in the setup during V8GP, so we adjusted that in between the sessions and the car was really good for the OPEN!”
Jens Beeusaert qualified a career best third place, topping the Master Trophy leaderboards in the process. Hendriks teammates Doubek and Gil Linster completed the top-5.
Sandro Tavartkiladze was sixth ahead of Legend Trophy leaders Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Melvin de Groot. Thomas Dombrowski and Ossi Pohjanharju rounded out the top-10 ahead of Vladimiros Tziortzis, who missed out on Superpole only by 0.05 seconds.
Just like in V8GP, eight different teams also advanced to the Superpole. Only Hendriks Motorsport and Team Bleekemolen (Tavartkiladze and de Groot) had multiple drivers making it through to the OPEN shootout.
Mariam Davitidze, who qualified 13th, beat Robin Bleekemolen for the top spot in the Lady Trophy.
Trophy rival Beitske Visser qualified second-from-last after suffering from engine issues in her No. 77 BS+ Competition Camaro. Visser was only ahead of Andre Lortié, who was 15 seconds off the pace from the leaders.
OPEN Combined Qualifying Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.