Jack Davidson is the first ever British driver to win a EuroNASCAR race – He reached the milestone at his home race in Brands Hatch
Drivers from 17 different countries have won a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series’ EuroNASCAR 2 race since the championship’s inception in 2012. The latest nation to be added to the list was Great Britain when Jack Davidson grabbed his maiden win in his home race at the Indy Circuit of Brands Hatch. The Lux Motorsport driver and his family team prevailed in Sunday’s race of American SpeedFest XI with a stunning performance and was therefore crowned Prince of the NASCAR GP UK. But how did the Scot carved his way to Victory Lane?
His journey started in 2023 when he joined the NWES Drivers Recruitment Program. Davidson fell in love with the pure power of the European NASCAR cars and joined Marko Stipp Motorsport to race in EuroNASCAR 2. He quickly adapted to the thunderous machine without any electronic driving aids and grabbed the Rookie Trophy title for the German team. After a first taste of NASCAR in Jack’s debut year, the Davidson family then made an important decision for 2024.
Davidson was in contact with several teams on the grid but in the end, the Scottish family decided to take a completely different path: They bought a car and founded Lux Motorsport to field the #21 Chevrolet Camaro. Davidson is a standout character and his car had to stand out in the field, so the team decided to wrap the car in a reflective pink foil nobody can miss at the NWES events. With the backing of his loyal partner GT Omega, Davidson started his second season on his own.
Racing and fielding a EuroNASCAR car are two completely different stories and it was crystal clear that Lux Motorsport would have to climb another learning curve. The team already fielded different touring cars in British championships before but handling a EuroNASCAR machine is still a probing challenge because of the high competition level in the series. Valencia and Vallelunga were important learning steps for Lux Motorsport but then Brands Hatch was on the schedule, a race track the Davidson family clocked countless laps at.
The motivation was high, the car well prepared and Davidson set to raise his game. He pulled double duty and raced in both championships at the Indy Circuit in Kent. A fifth place in EuroNASCAR 2’s Qualifying on Saturday was the first step to success and the first glimpse of the potential the Scottish crew has. A fifth place in Saturday’s race was proof that Davidson was on the verge of putting the pink machine on the podium and the team was hungry for more.
To win a EuroNASCAR race, everything needs to run perfectly: You have to have a perfect car, the perfect pace, make the right decisions on track and you have to be in the right place at the right time. This is exactly what happened to Davidson on Sunday: after a crash on the first lap involving pole sitter Thomas Krasonis, championship leader Martin Doubek and Legend Trophy star Claudio Cappelli, Davidson took advantage of the situation to grab the lead when the green flag waved for the restart.
Davidson pulled away from Gil Linster and brought home a dominant win in front of tens of thousands of fans in Brands Hatch cheering for their local hero. Linster ended up second behind Davidson with the big picture in mind. The podium was rounded out by Patrick Schober who had a last lap clash with Melvin de Groot. The Dutchman topped the Legend Trophy standings anyway in sixth, behind Thomas Toffel and Thomas Dombrowski.
Davidson turned into Victory Lane in the American SpeedFest fan zone, climbed on top of his car and celebrated his maiden NASCAR Whelen Euro Series race win with his home fans. After the live interview, he put the very first winner’s sticker on his car. He joined an exclusive class of 46 different winners in EuroNASCAR 2 from France, Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Italy, Cyprus, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Brasil, Spain, Luxembourg, Israel, India and the UK. In the overall standings he’s now seventh, 47 points off championship leader Martin Doubek.
Featured image by NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
