Paul Jouffreau fended off an intense challenge from Thomas Krasonis to claim victory in the NASCAR Euro Series 2025 opener – Yvan Muller finished on the podium in his debut championship race
- Paul Jouffreau set up an early advantage with a win at his spiritual home track
- Thomas Krasonis brought joy to Greece with a convincing runner-up finish
- Yvan Muller brought M Racing to a podium finish in their debut race
NASCAR Euro Series’ new era begins with a highly exciting event that wows the thousands of fans visiting the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain. A competitive race with unexpected plot twists is the true essence of NASCAR racing and that’s what the drivers delivered in Round 1 of the 2025 PRO season. Plenty of new names fought their way to the front, but it’s a familiar name who found his way to the Victory Lane: Paul Jouffreau, who basked himself in glory in the Frenchman’s spiritual home track.
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Having already secured the Strom Watches Pole Award in Qualifying, Jouffreau was off to a good start and retained the lead from an unexpected challenge delivered by PK Carsport’s new Greek star Thomas Krasonis. The driver of the RDV Competition’s #3 Ford Mustang maintained a steady pace at the front, keeping just enough in the tank to survive all attacks from Krasonis. In the end, a track limit violation penalty for Krasonis locked up Jouffreau’s win at the 4.005 kilometer circuit located near the bustling city of Valencia.
“It’s really, really nice!” said Jouffreau, who also won the Junior Trophy. “The plan was to exit the first turn in the lead and finish in the lead and we achieved it. Thomas has a really good pace, to be honest. I wanted to manage the pace to save the tires for tomorrow, but Thomas was putting me under pressure a lot. Then, my spotter told me that he had a 10-second penalty. Congratulations to him, it was still a really good race for him and I’m happy to finish the first race in first!”
Despite the penalty spoiling his winning ambitions, Krasonis deserved his plaudits for a stellar start in the #13 Chevrolet Camaro. The mentorship from both Alon Day and PK Carsport’s team manager Anthony Kumpen has helped Krasonis to achieve the next big leap of his career. Finishing runner-up in both the race and the Junior Trophy, the Greek pressured Jouffreau with a pace that matched the Frenchman’s capabilities. Such was the 23-year old’s speed that he survived his track limit penalty because he was so far in front of the chasing drivers. There’s potential for Krasonis to achieve more in Round 2, as he will start from Pole Position after setting the best race lap time.
Plaudits must also be given to the driver-team combo of Yvan Muller and M Racing. Despite not competing for a few years, Muller has not lost his edge and brought his team to the podium. It was not Muller’s first podium in EuroNASCAR: He has tasted podium in a non-championship event at Tours Speedway in 2012. However, it is the French legend’s first as a championship competitor, so will the touring car legend taste blood after this result? Muller said that Valencia is a one off as a last-minute substitute for Yann Ehrlacher, but never say never.
Vittorio Ghirelli did not have the script that he expected. Only fourth and 15 seconds behind Jouffreau, the Italian will have his work cutout for Sunday. The same goes for his arch-rival Gianmarco Ercoli, who was only seventh under the checkered flag. Liam Hezemans in fifth place narrowly defended the final podium spot in the Junior Trophy ahead of Garrett Lowe. Lowe, the new Bremotion star from the United State of America, proved that the iRacing to EuroNASCAR pipeline is a viable option after he immediately mixed himself up with the best that EuroNASCAR have to offer.
Vladimiros Tziortzis, Julien Rehberg – the second Bremotion driver in the top-10 – and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen completed the top-10 while the Challenger Trophy victory went to Team Japan Needs24’s Kenko Miura, who enjoyed a competitive battle with Marko Stipp Motorsport’s newcomer Davit Kajaia from Georgia. The race paid its toll on some drivers and one of them was Claudio Cappelli. The Italian lasted long enough to claim third in the Challenger Trophy classifications.
A thrilling season opening race for PRO has been written in the record books. Now, it’s the OPEN driver’s turn to deliver the spectacle when the race gets underway at 4:55 pm CEST this Saturday. Be sure to tune in to EuroNASCAR’s official YouTube channel and TV channels around the world to not only catch OPEN’s season opening action, but also action from the remainder of NASCAR GP Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Nina Weinbrenner
