A new chapter in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series history has been written at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany. Patrick Schober scored his maiden EuroNASCAR 2 win and also put Double V Racing’s #27 Ford Mustang in Victory Lane for the first time. The Austrian, who joined the overall podium in the Czech Republic, had a stellar run and crossed the finish line ahead of Race Art Technology’s Thomas Toffel and Team Bleekemolen’s Melvin de Groot in a dramatic race. Penalties in the race shuffled up the order of a 16-lap race packed with intense action.
Unperturbed by this, Schober took the lead on lap nine in a battle against Gil Linster, who later served his drive through penalty for an incident with Alberto Naska in the fight for the lead. Afterwards, Schober never gave his competitors a single chance to catch the Double V Racing Ford. By bringing home an emotional maiden race win in EuroNASCAR, the 19-year old will make a huge step up in the overall standings as he moved to sixth after dropping his two worst results of the regular season. Now, the Austrian is looking to end the 2023 EuroNASCAR 2 season inside the overall top-5.
“Oh my God, I didn’t actually believe that I would actually win the race!” said the Double V star driver in Victory Lane. “I hoped for a podium, but I’m surprised that I won. The team did a great job and also want to thank my sponsors Keyman, Motorsport Aktiv and Procar Motorsport. I’m really thankful to them and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do this interview! I fought so much this year, I had such a hard crash in Brands Hatch and now the victory came and I’m so happy!”
Ending up second was Toffel in his #34 Race Art Technology Chevrolet Camaro. The Swiss made the transition from bike to auto racing and had his breakthrough at Autodrom Most where he scored a solid seventh place. The second position in Germany was the best result for the 32-year-old in his young EuroNASCAR career. Toffel also led the Rookie Trophy standings and brought home a nice trophy that will surely get a special place in his trophy rack.
Following in third was the reigning Legend Trophy champion Melvin de Groot in his #69 Team Bleekemolen Ford Mustang. The Dutchman was on the overall podium for the first time in the 2023 NWES season and collected his third top-3 finish after two podiums in the NASCAR GP Belgium back in 2021 and 2022. Defending his Legend Trophy title after missing out on the season opener in Valencia will be a tough mission for de Groot, but still the Dutch giant aims to end the year inside the top-3 of the special classification.
Saturday’s race winner Paul Jouffreau started from pole but was caught in turn 1 and shuffled down the order. Still, the Frenchman in the colors of RDV Competition made a strong comeback to finish fourth. The 19-year old scored important points in the championship battle and after dropping his two worst results of the regular season, he sits eight points behind championship leader Vladimiros Tziortzis. Tziortzis returned to action after he was sidelined by technical issues on Saturday, but the Cypriot started from the back of the field and got penalized for an avoidable collision with Dominique Schaak and therefore only ended up twelfth.
Jack Davidson had a strong run in his #48 Marko Stipp Motorsport Chevrolet and celebrated a second place on the Rookie Trophy podium. He was followed by the special classification’s points leader Thomas Dombrowski, who rounded out the Rookie Trophy top-3. Roberto Benedetti took home second in the Legend Trophy ahead of Claudio Cappelli. Dominique Schaak scored his first ever top-10 in wha was only his second NWES start with Bremotion, while Gil Linster ended up ninth after receiving multiple penalties.
Linster fought for his first EuroNASCAR race win but caused an avoidable collision with Alberto Naska in the battle for the top spots. Later in the race, the Luxembourgish made a false start during the restart and also got a penalty for a contact with Cappelli. Still, the Hendriks Motorsport driver finished ninth right ahead of the Italian driver in the #18 Race Art Technology Ford Mustang, who rounded out the top-10. Following the contact with Linster, Naska tried to make a comeback but another spin caused the CAAL Racing driver to drop down to 16th overall.
In the provisional overall standings, Tziortzis leads the EuroNASCAR 2 classification with 296 points on his tally. Naska is second, seven points behind the Cypriot in his #5 Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport EuroNASCAR FJ. Jouffreau follows in third with only eight points separating him from the leader. With double points on the line at Circuit Zolder, the championship and trophy battles there promises thrilling races and last-minute title decisions.
The EuroNASCAR 2 will be back in action at the EuroNASCAR Finals on October 14-15 in Belgium, while the EuroNASCAR PRO field will highlight a phenomenal return of the NASCAR GP Germany at its new home, the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. EuroNASCAR PRO Round 10 will take place at 13:55 CEST and will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel, Motorsport.tv and several TV services from all around the world.
NWES PR
