Alumitec Racing secured a full weekend sweep at Autodromo Vallelunga after Nelson Piquet Jr. cruised to back-to-back wins in the V8GP division.
The 2026 edition of NASCAR GP Italy was officially conquered by Alumitec Racing. Nelson Piquet Jr. completed the French-based Canadian team’s weekend sweep after he secured back-to-back wins in V8GP Race 2.
Piquet Jr. was unchallenged by his closest rivals, as their constant squabble for positions in the early stages allowed the Brazilian to cruise into the sunset.
Paul Jouffreau, Vittorio Ghirelli and Thomas Krasonis managed to eventually break away from the pack that also involved Piquet Jr.’s teammate Gianmarco Ercoli and Fabrizio Armetta. However, it was too late by the time they had done so.
“First of all, thanks to the whole team,” said Piquet Jr. in Victory Lane. “They’ve been working so hard this weekend! It’s thanks to them that we came up from where we started in the championship to where we are now.”
“We had a tough beginning of the race. I think we lowered the tire pressure too much, but I think Ercoli in the back got into some door-to-door action that gave me some buffer and that helped me.”
“Thanks everybody, thanks to our sponsors, it’s a great weekend for sure. It’s a great first time here at Vallelunga!”
Piquet Jr.’s victory was aided by penalties that were administered to Jouffreau and Ghirelli.
Jouffreau received a 10-second penalty for forcefully pushing Krasonis wide when the Frenchman overtook the Greek, while Ghirelli had a 5-second penalty for moving out of the start formation to avoid a check up with the slow starting Krasonis and Vinnie Meskelis.
The penalties promoted Krasonis to second, having been classified 5.057 seconds behind Piquet Jr. at the finish.
Teammate Ghirelli managed to hold on the podium despite his penalty. While Krasonis did overtake him in the final results, the Italian finished more than 5 seconds ahead of fellow countryman and fourth place finisher Armetta.
Jouffreau was second on the road, but his penalty relegated him to fifth. The penalty also cost Jouffreau the Junior Trophy win, which was awarded to Krasonis – completing Krasonis’ Trophy sweep in Vallelunga.
Ercoli faded towards the end and had to settle for sixth ahead of Martin Doubek, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Garrett Lowe and Jordan O’Brien.
Davit Kajaia in 15th took advantage of Thomas Toffel’s DNS to win the Challenger Trophy. The Georgian beat Giovanni Cartechini and Brenna Schubert, who finished 17th and 18th respectively.
Sitting in between them was Ulysse Delsaux, whose No. 55 Club Competition team suffered a peculiar incident during the morning Warm-Up.
The No. 55 Toyota was about to start its first hot lap when the hood flew off from the car due to a technical failure in its latches.
The sudden transfer of air pressure then stripped the roof and left-side body panels clean, leaving Club Competition scrambling to get the car ready for Delsaux and Giovanni Faraonio’s races.
Amazingly, Club Competition mechanics managed to complete the repairs in time. Although Faraonio retired after six laps in the EuroNASCAR OPEN race, Delsaux managed to bring the car home after some hard battles with Kajaia and Marc Goossens.
V8GP Race 2 Results
EuroNASCAR V8GP Championship Standings
Despite a slightly suboptimal weekend for Vittorio Ghirelli at his home race, the Italian’s chances to become the first driver to win three titles in a row is still very strong.
Ghirelli will enter the finale at Zolder with 381 points and a 31 point advantage to Nelson Piquet Jr., who leapfrogged Jordan O’Brien with his Playoffs Semi-Finals sweep at Vallelunga.
O’Brien is now joint third with Thomas Krasonis with 339 points, although O’Brien still wins the tie thanks to his win at Most. Garrett Lowe and Martin Doubek are still tied, but they are now sharing fifth position instead of third.
Paul Jouffreau, Gianmarco Ercoli, Vladimiros Tziortzis and Fabrizio Armetta completed the overall top-10 positions.
Logan Bearden’s absence from Vallelunga gave Davit Kajaia a substantial lead of 36 points in the Challenger Trophy, putting the Georgian in a strong position to win the Trophy in back-to-back years.
EuroNASCAR V8GP Championship Standings
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