Davit Kajaia leads the Challenger Trophy after scoring a class victory in his and Georgia’s debut NASCAR weekend – The Marko Stipp Motorsport driver is one point ahead of veteran Kenko Miura
- A class win and a runner-up finish resulted in Davit Kajaia leading Challenger Trophy
- Kenko Miura and Claudio Remigio Cappelli are Kajaia’s closest contenders
- 13 points separates all Challenger Trophy contenders after Valencia
The 2025 NASCAR Euro Series season heralded the arrival of the first Georgian drivers in the official European NASCAR championship. After participating in the Drivers Recruitment Tests at Cremona in Italy, Davit Kajaia joined the PRO division with Marko Stipp Motorsport thanks to the support of Georgia’s motorsport federation. The driver from Tbilisi rose up to the challenge in his debut in Spain by winning the Challenger Trophy classification in Round 2 on Sunday. Kajaia holds an advantage of one point from Kenko Miura, who took the victory in Round 01.
Kajaia’s maiden weekend in EuroNASCAR proved to be eventful as he slowly learned the ways to master the V8 powered machines that roared in front of 19,000 fans at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The 41-year old admits that he was too aggressive in Round 1, damaging the #48 Marko Stipp Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro early and compromising his chances of a victory. He learned from this lesson on Round 2, running a fine race until he collided with Challenger Trophy rival Michael Bleekemolen on the final corner of the final lap. Thankfully, the Georgian driver was able to continue and crossed the finish line to score the first class win of his career.
“Of course, two podiums in the first weekend is amazing,” said Kajaia after securing his Challenger Trophy win. “The race was crazy because I started from almost the last position. I was 19th and it felt like I was behind the medical car. I immediately gained five or six positions at the start and after the Full Course Yellow, someone crashed into me on my back wheel, which bent my steering. That moment at the end was crazy. The lapped car went out, he almost spun and crashed into me. Eventually I saved the car and crossed the finish line. I struggled too much, but now I’m here, everything is behind me and I’m happy!”
The debutant in Kajaia is followed by a true veteran of the Challenger Trophy: Kenko Miura. Miura previously won the overall Challenger Trophy classification in 2018 and returned to the Team Japan Needs24 machine for the season opener in Valencia. The driver from Japan started his season well with a Trophy win in Round 1, but was unable to follow upon this result after an early retirement in Round 2. Miura showed his potential by taking home an overall podium finish in OPEN, so it remains to be seen if he can do the same in PRO in 2025.
Third place Claudio Cappelli is only five points adrift from Kajaia. Cappelli qualified an impressive seventh onboard his Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang, but in the races he struggled with constant brake lock-ups. Unable to extract the maximum results possible, Cappelli accepted his double Challenger Trophy podium finishes and vowed to return back stronger for the next round at Vallelunga. The same goes for Max Lanza, who took a podium in Round 2 on Sunday. Michael Bleekemolen struggled with mechanical issues in both races and will have a deficit of 13 points to catch in Italy.
A close battle in the special classification for elite amateurs awaits the tifosi during EuroNASCAR’s return to Autodromo Vallelunga on May 17th and 18th. With only 13 points separating the five contenders, there’s plenty of room for changes and surprises to occur in the ever exciting American Festival of Rome. Make sure you tune in to the developments from the Challenger Trophy on the live qualifying and race broadcasts at the official EuroNASCAR YouTube channel and TV channels all around the world.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Nina Weinbrenner
