Thomas Krasonis emerged victorious from a fantastic lead battle involving six drivers in the second EuroNASCAR OPEN race at Oschersleben.
One of the best on-track battles in NASCAR Euro Series history took place in the second EuroNASCAR OPEN race at Oschersleben. A six-way battle for the race victory highlights the rising level of competitiveness in EuroNASCAR’s second division.
Championship contenders Thomas Krasonis and Patrick Schober, rising star Bruno Mulders and outside hopefuls in Claudio Remigio Cappelli, Thomas Toffel and Gil Linster were engaged in a scrap that lasted for the majority of the race.
Krasonis was the one to emerge victorious at the checkered flag. The Greek cleared his opponents once he got past Mulders for the lead at the end of lap 13.
With the other five still fighting tooth and nail for positions, Krasonis cruised into the distance and crossed the line with a 1.651 seconds advantage to Schober and Cappelli.
“It was an amazing race,” said Krasonis in Victory Lane. “I wanted to look at the big picture. I had a brilliant fight with Bruno, nice and clean.”
“There was pushing from behind and everyone tried to have a shot at winning this race, so I said ‘It’s now or never’ and it worked well. I took the position and won the race.”
Schober’s runner-up finish was a return to form for the Austrian after his late heartbreak on Saturday.
Cappelli’s podium also continued the Italian’s hot streak after his performances at Autodrom Most. He also now stood on top of the Legend Trophy podium in the last three races, with three back-to-back overall top-5 results to show for as well.
Mulders led the majority of the race, but his tires gave in on the latter stages. The Dutchman surrendered three more places shortly after Krasonis grabbed the lead, and fifth was ultimately where he finished.
Linster capped off his best weekend of the season with a fourth place finish. Toffel was nearly caught by Martin Doubek, but he held on to sixth thanks to the Czech driver’s early race struggles.
Doubek did not have the speed to match the six drivers at the front. By the time he caught up to Toffel, Doubek ran out of laps to make a meaningful impact.
Thomas Dombrowski finished eighth ahead of Andres Beers at the checkered flag. Both drivers initially joined Mulders in the Master Trophy podium, but Beers was demoted post-race after officials found a major infringement in his machine.
Technical inspectors discovered that Academy Motorsport was using fuel that was allocated for the Czech round in Beers’ No. 1 IceFactory Europe Ford. The mishap is accidental, but Academy was punished with a 10 place position drop penalty for their failure to use the mandated fuel allocation.
Valentino Gambarotto would’ve benefitted from Beers’ penalty, but he was also penalized for an unsafe rejoin. In the end, Sandro Tavartkiladze and Loris Cencetti were promoted to the top-10 positions.
Gambarotto was eleventh in the final results ahead of Dominique Schaak and Melvin de Groot. De Groot made a costly mistake in the final lap where he ran off the track on the final corner.
Already set back from his Saturday struggles, de Groot’s off road excursion has effectively eliminated the Dutchman from the title battle. The Brands Hatch winner needed a miracle to still have a chance in the season finale at Zolder.
Worth noting is that José Antonio Peñalta and Raphaël Lessard did not start either races in EuroNASCAR OPEN. It meant that both drivers’ participation during Friday Practice is solely for track time purposes.
EuroNASCAR OPEN Race 2 Results
EuroNASCAR OPEN Championship Standings
The round at Oschersleben was practically perfect for Thomas Krasonis. While he did not sweep the weekend like in Most, Martin Doubek’s struggles meant that the Greek now has a 35 point advantage to the reigning champion at the top of the standings.
Depending on how the EuroNASCAR Finals go, there’s a strong chance for Krasonis to clinch the title with one race to spare at Zolder.
Trailing Doubek is the trio of Master Trophy leaders. Bruno Mulders’ maiden victory elevated the Dutchman up to third, but consistent results from Thomas Dombrowski and Sandro Tavartkiladze kept them in the hunt to become the Trophy’s inaugural winner.
Melvin de Groot’s tough time in Germany dropped him down to sixth in the overall standings. Patrick Schober, Claudio Remigio Cappelli, Dominique Schaak and Gil Linster completed the top-10 positions.
The Lady Trophy theoretically still has an ongoing battle because Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann had a 118 points advantage to Arianna Casoli with a max of 176 points in offer at Zolder.
However, given that Casoli is likely to miss the Finals, Vanessa has effectively won the overall Lady Trophy honors at her home race in Germany.
Full EuroNASCAR PRO Championship Standings
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.