Top-12 drivers of both championships still in the title battle - Speedway Digest

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series has earned the title of Europe’s premier touring car championship thanks to the close championship battles, the well-attended American festivals at some of the best tracks of the Old Continent and the thrilling door-to-door duels with the roar of the V8 engines as soundtrack. The 2024 EuroNASCAR season is set to add another thrilling chapter to the series’ history book with the top-12 drivers from both championships still in the hunt for both the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 titles. Buckle up for another nail-biter at Circuit Zolder in Belgium.

Last year’s EuroNASCAR PRO championship was decided in the final laps of the final race. Gianmarco Ercoli won his first title and the Italian will be looking to defend the trophy, but rival Vittorio Ghirelli was the dominant force in the regular season. Ghirelli then made a good start to the playoffs in Germany and leads the overall standings with 421 points. Ercoli took his first race win of the season and is second in the standings, just 23 points behind the Fasano driver.

Let’s get down to theory: Double points are up for grabs and with the bonus points for most positions gained a driver can score a maximum of 176 points in the EuroNASCAR Finals. Ghirelli and his #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet will have to be physically at the track to score the minimum amount of points possible. According to the rule book, Ghirelli would score 24 points despite not starting the races, as 21 championship drivers have entered the event so far. The rule states that Ghirelli would score ten points less than the lowest score in the race, which would be 12 points per race.

This means that anyone within reach of 152 points still has a chance of overtaking Ghirelli in the overall standings. Tobias Dauenhauer in twelfth place is 116 points behind the Italian and therefore still has a chance of winning the title, Vladimiros Tziortis at minus 140 would need jackpot-winning luck. But a realistic look at the standings shows that there are still four contenders for the championship: Ghirelli. Ercoli, Paul Jouffreau and Liam Hezemans, who are separated by just 28 points. Lucas Lasserre and Martin Doubek are the dark horses and could become a factor if they are lucky in Saturday’s race.

In the battle for the Junior Trophy, Jouffreau leads Hezemans by just four points. Thomas Krasonis is third, 67 points behind Jouffreau. Ryan Vargas is looking to get back into the top-3 on a track the American knows from his 2023 season. 13 points separate Thomas Toffel and Max Lanza in the Challenger Trophy. Dario Caso and Riccardi Romagnoli are just one and five points respectively behind Lanza in second place. The battle for the trophies promises exciting races in the Limburg woods.

In the EuroNASCAR 2 standings, Doubek has a comfortable 33-point lead over Patrick Schober. In theory, the top-12 are still within reach of overtaking Doubek, but as in EuroNASCAR PRO, there are four drivers with realistic chances of winning the title. Doubek is aiming for his second overall win in EuroNASCAR 2 and will need consistency to get his #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford into Victory Lane.

Schober scored a race win at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany to close the gap on Doubek. The Austrian will do his best to challenge the Czech. Doubek’s teammate Gil Linster is third, 51 points behind the leader, while Thomas Krasonis is the dark horse, 62 points adrift. The lead looks comfortable, but things can change in the blink of an eye in the last two races at the Circuit Zolder.

Melvin de Groot and Claudio Cappelli are battling it out for the Legend Trophy, separated by just 31 points, while there’s a six-way battle for the Rookie Trophy between Florian Richard, Victor Neumann, Mario Ercoli, Dominique Schaak, Julien Rehberg and Veeti Rajala. The top-6 newcomers are separated by only 42 points. In the Lady Trophy, Arianna Casoli has a 105-point lead over part-time driver Luli Del Castello. Anything can happen, so join the EuroNASCAR Finals at Circuit Zolder or watch all the races live and for free on the EuroNASCAR YouTube channel.

NWES PR