Track records shattered: Ghirelli and Schober storm to Pole Position in fastest ever Qualifying at Most - Speedway Digest

The Qualifying session for the 2024 NASCAR GP Czech Republic at Autodrom Most was one for the history books. The existing Qualifying track record in both EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 were shattered by Pole Position Award winners Vittorio Ghirelli and Patrick Schober, who clocked the 4.212 kilometer circuit at a blistering speed with their PK Carsport and RDV Competition machines. The Italian and the Austrian will therefore lead the field for the start of Rounds 8, the first of two crucial races that will play an important factor for the drivers as they enter the final stages of the 2024 season.

EuroNASCAR PRO: Ghirelli sets multiple Qualifying records

Vittorio Ghirelli once again proved himself as the king of Qualifying in the 2024 EuroNASCAR PRO season. Not only did the championship leader break the previous track record at Most by three tenths of a second with his Superpole time of 1:39.774 – the first ever below the 1:40 barrier – but the Italian also became the first driver to earn five consecutive Pole Position Awards. With Ghirelli having won at Most two times before in his career, including his first ever EuroNASCAR PRO victory in 2021, there’s no doubt that he’s going to be the favorite to win Rounds 8 and 9 to further extend his advantage in the standings.

“It was a really amazing session,” said Ghirelli after his record breaking performance. “The car was very good. It was close in the end, I gave a nice slipstream to Paul and he probably improved by two or three tenths, but he was really fast so I had to push a lot. Everything went good and clean in the last lap and the car was flying. It’s a super job by PK Carsport and now I want to take seven out of seven this year.”

RDV Competition’s Paul Jouffreau pushed Ghirelli to his limits by taking the front row of the grid with only 0.065 seconds separating the two drivers. The Frenchman also topped the Junior Trophy, beating Hendriks Motorsport’s Liam Hezemans who was sandwiched by Team Bleekemolen’s Marc Goossens and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen in fourth. Fabrizio Armetta, Gianmarco Ercoli, Martin Doubek, Lucas Lasserre and Ulysse Delsaux completed the top-10. Challenger Trophy leader Thomas Toffel was the fastest qualifier in the classification for elite amateurs in 14th place.

EuroNASCAR 2: Only 0.015 seconds separated Schober from de Groot

The pace that EuroNASCAR PRO had set in their Qualifying session was echoed by EuroNASCAR 2, who also had their fastest Qualifying session ever at Autodrom Most. The main battle was contested by two drivers who had yet to lead the field in their careers: Patrick Schober and Melvin de Groot. De Groot led the majority of the session with a time of 1:40.684, but Schober came through in the final minutes and beat the Dutchman by just 0.015 seconds to secure his first Pole Position Award in his third season in the division.

“It’s amazing, I’m really proud of the team,” said Schober after his excellent showing. “They did a good job throughout this weekend and I finally got the Pole Award. I can place it over my simulator at home, look at it and say that ‘I’m a EuroNASCAR pole winner.’ P4 was also great yesterday, but now it’s much better that we are first with new tires.”

De Groot’s time wasn’t matched by anyone else, allowing him to claim both his maiden front row start and top spot in the Legend Trophy. Home crowd’s favorite Martin Doubek followed in third with Gil Linster and Claudio Cappelli completing the top-5. Jack Davidson, Thomas Toffel, and Thomas Dombrowski were sixth, seventh and eighth ahead of Simone Giussani, the fastest driver in Rookie Trophy. Thomas Krasonis rounded out the top-10 while Luli del Castello beat Arianna Casoli for first place in the Lady Trophy classifications.

The speedy action provided by the V8 powered EuroNASCAR machines will be continued with Rounds 8 for both EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2, scheduled for 13:35 CEST and 16:55 CEST respectively. All races from EuroNASCAR’s fifth visit to the Czech Republic will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel and several TV networks from all around the world.

EuroNASCAR PRO Results|EuroNASCAR 2 Results