V8GP championship leader Vittorio Ghirelli extended his advantage at the top after he was declared as the winner in Saturday’s race at Brands Hatch.
Vittorio Ghirelli admitted that he was lucky with the penalties that were given in Saturday’s NASCAR Euro Series V8GP race at Brands Hatch, but these penalties were the key reason for Ghirelli’s third victory in the 2026 season.
Ghirelli did not have the car to match Gianmarco Ercoli or Jack Davidson in the wet, but he kept the No. 24 Rellumix / Conforama Camaro clean whilst both Ercoli and Davidson ran into trouble.
Ercoli made contact with pole sitter Garrett Lowe at the start that sent both him and Paul Jouffreau wide, while Davidson ran into trouble when he left no room for Martin Doubek to go side by side with him on lap 3.
The Italian and the Scotsman were given a 10 and 5-second penalty for their respective transgressions. Ghirelli was able to stay within range of both drivers, which was enough for the PK Carsport driver to win despite leading zero laps in the shortened event.
The two-time champion dedicated his victory to the father of his crew chief Carlo Huybretchs, who is battling with an undisclosed illness.
“It was hard from fifth on the grid,” said Ghirelli in Victory Lane. “I pushed the whole race to catch Ercoli. I was on his bumper, but my tires were going hot, so I just hung on to the end.”
“We were a bit lucky with the penalty, but what a race, what tricky conditions! It’s lovely to have all the fans here in the UK.”
“The championship is very long and you can lose a lot of points by doing stupid things. If I don’t have the pace, I don’t risk it. You just have to keep delivering results. The father of my crew chief Carlo is ill, so this victory is for him!”
Nelson Piquet Jr. also benefitted from the penalties to move up to second. The Brazilian charged his way from tenth and was happy with the work that Alumitec Racing did to the No. 48 Ford.
The podium was completed by Davidson, who had enough margin to leap ahead of Ercoli once their penalties were considered.
It is Davidson’s third consecutive year with a podium at Brands Hatch, having won OPEN Race 2 in 2024 and finished third in 2025’s PRO Race 1. Davidson also won the Junior Trophy battle with his overall podium finish.
Jordan O’Brien challenged for the win early, but had to settle for fifth ahead of the recovering Lowe. Thomas Krasonis, Vinnie Meskelis, Vladimiros Tziortzis and Marc Goossens completed the top-10.
Davit Kajaia took advantage of Logan Bearden’s late retirement to win the Challenger Trophy in 11th. Bearden’s retirement was unfortunate as he was battling for the top-10 positions, dueling alongside fellow Americans Lowe and Meskelis for the majority of the race.
The race was red flagged on lap 36 following a series of incidents caused by intensifying rain. Giovanni Cartechini and Andre Lortie both spun in the wet before Ulysse Delsaux crashed heavily behind the Safety Car.
Race control decided to call the race shortly after. The final results were rolled back to lap 29, the last lap completed under full green conditions.
This was bad news for Paul Jouffreau, who suffered a puncture on lap 27 while running in ninth. Jouffreau was forced to retire, but had set the fastest lap before, which resulted in pole position for the Frenchman in Sunday’s race.
EuroNASCAR V8GP Race 1 Results
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