Garrett Lowe and Thomas Dombrowski battled wet weather at Brands Hatch to claim their first career NASCAR Euro Series pole positions in V8GP and OPEN.
Wet weather conditions might have prevented the drivers from beating Ander Vilarino’s Qualifying lap record, but it doesn’t mean the end of the surprises from the 2026 edition of American SpeedFest.
Two first-time pole position winners were crowned on Saturday after Garrett Lowe and Thomas Dombrowski went fastest in the Qualifying sessions for the EuroNASCAR V8GP and OPEN divisions.
Lowe beat Junior Trophy rival Paul Jouffreau for his maiden Pole Award, while Thomas Dombrowski waited through two long red flag periods before he set his pole winning lap.
Both drivers also happened to make history with their pole positions. Lowe became the first American driver to start on pole in EuroNASCAR V8GP, while Dombrowski became the 50th driver to do so in EuroNASCAR OPEN.
EuroNASCAR V8GP Qualifying Recap
Wet weather was predicted for Saturday’s running of the American SpeedFest and that was exactly what the V8GP competitors had to face for Qualifying and Superpole.
Garrett Lowe anticipated the conditions with a dedicated rain practice in iRacing prior to the weekend. Lowe’s time in the simulator quickly paid dividends, as proven when he slotted his No. 99 BS+ Competition Camaro on top in Q1.
Third place in Q2 was enough for Lowe to make it to the Superpole. The American then nailed his allocated Superpole laps, setting a time of 53.079 to clinch his first career pole position.
“It was actually kinda fun!” said Lowe on racing at Brands Hatch in the wet. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy this place in the wet, but it’s pretty good.”
“I had a few laps in the simulator to get an idea on what it’s like in the wet because it’s predicted to be wet when we’ll come. American SpeedFest, American on top, at least in qualifying!”
Paul Jouffreau joined Lowe on the front row, having lost out on pole and the top Junior Trophy position by just 0.175 seconds.
Gianmarco Ercoli, Jordan O’Brien and Vittorio Ghirelli completed the top-5 spots, followed by the trio of youngsters Jack Davidson, Thomas Krasonis and Vinnie Meskelis.
Martin Doubek and Nelson Piquet Jr. completed the list of Superpole participants. Piquet Jr. had to abandon his second Superpole lap attempt due to issues in his #48 Alumitec Racing Ford Mustang.
Thomas Toffel was the fastest of the Challenger Trophy in 11th, leading Italian Giovanni Cartechini by 0.444 seconds.
Logan Bearden comfortably made it through Q1 in seventh, but the American struggled in Q2 and qualified last among the Q2 participants.
Surprise eliminations include former V8GP winners Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Marc Goossens, who was off the pace in the wet and could only qualify 18th and 19th respectively.
V8GP Q1 Results | V8GP Q2 Results | V8GP Superpole Results
EuroNASCAR OPEN Qualifying Recap
EuroNASCAR OPEN’s Qualifying came down to a battle between Sandro Tavartkiladze and Thomas Dombrowski, two drivers that had yet to score pole positions in their career.
Tavartkiladze beat Dombrowski for the top spot in Qualifying, but it was the Frenchman who had the last laugh. Dombrowski waited until his second Superpole lap to secure his first career pole position, doing so with a fantastic lap of 54.099 seconds.Speaking to Andre Wiegold after the session, Dombrowski said that his pole is his “revenge” to Brands Hatch following his monster shunt in last year’s SpeedFest.
“I’m super happy, having the first pole position at this track,” said Dombrowski. “After the huge crash last year, it’s a good revenge and shows the good mentality that we had. It’s beautiful to do it here.”
Tavartkiladze was only able to get third place in the end, having been outfoxed by Raphaël Lessard who secured another front row start for the Saturday race.
Martin Doubek joined the Georgian on the second row with teammate Gil Linster qualifying right behind him in sixth. Claudio Remigio Cappelli sandwiched the Hendriks Motorsport duo in fifth, maintaining his position as the top driver in Legend Trophy.
Valentino Gambarotto and Melvin de Groot qualified on the fourth row ahead of Thomas Toffel and Jens Beeusaert, who both crashed in the tricky conditions.
The heavier rain for OPEN’s sessions caught out Toffel, who lost control of his No. 34 Ergon Project Camaro at Paddock Hill towards the end of Qualifying. The Swiss tried to rejoin Superpole with a missing rear bodywork, only for him to crash again almost immediately.
Jens Beeusaert was following Toffel on this second crash. The Belgian got caught out and was unable to stop his No. 19 Dinoil Toyota, hitting the tire stack a few meters away from Toffel.
Beeusaert was also involved in another incident in Qualifying, where he tapped the rear of Florian Richard’s No. 3 RDV Competition Ford shortly after Toffel’s first crash.
Vladimiros Tziortzis could only qualify 11th ahead of Mariam Davitidze, who drove to a career-best 12th place. Davitidze narrowly beat her new Lady Trophy compatriot Robin Bleekemolen by only 0.028 seconds.
OPEN Qualifying Results | OPEN Superpole Results
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.