Thomas Krasonis scored his second OPEN race win of the 2025 NASCAR Euro Series season – The Greek survived a race filled with drama and plot twists
- Thomas Krasonis collected his second OPEN race win in 2025
- Rain and a long red flag due to an accident made the race a survival game
- Tremendous battles in the top-10 entertained thousands of fans in Italy
The above lines may not be enough to sum up Round 3 of the 2025 NASCAR Euro Series OPEN Championship at Autodromo di Vallelunga, as the Saturday race delivered plenty of drama, crashes, twists, and turns over the course of 15 laps. In the end, it was Thomas Krasonis who came out on top, taking victory in his #13 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro after setting sail for a dominant second win of the season, crossing the finish line 8.840 seconds ahead of his closest rival. The storylines? Rain, crashes, a lengthy red flag period, more incidents, and thrilling battles for positions in the top 5.
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The easiest part to describe is Krasonis’ victory: the Greek driver took the lead at the initial start and never came under real pressure, delivering a commanding race win in Italy. The PK Carsport driver opened a gap on his closest pursuers after the restart and never looked back. Krasonis now leads the championship standings by three points over one of the most impressive rookies of the 2025 season: Bruno Mulders in his #72 Team Bleekemolen Toyota Camry. The Athens native is firmly in the title fight, and his racecraft has propelled him into the best position heading into Sunday’s race.
“I mean, to be fair, it was a completely crazy race!” said Krasonis in Victory Lane. “On the opening lap, I looked behind and saw Toffel — then I made a right-hand turn, looked again, and there was nobody there. I had this huge gap. I didn’t know what was going on, and then they told me it was a red flag. That’s when I saw the crash. All the best to everyone involved — wishing them a quick recovery, because it was a big one. At the restart, Alon [Day, Krasonis’ driver coach] told me it would be single file, to take the racing line and build a gap — and that’s exactly what we did. We never looked back. We pushed all the way to get the pole position, and I grabbed it on the last lap. All in all, we saw we had the pace, and we’ll give it another shot tomorrow.”
The battle for second had more plot twists than some of the most famous novels. In the end, it was Mulders who secured the runner-up spot and his second consecutive podium finish, following a promising debut at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in April. The Dutchman fended off numerous attacks from Thomas Dombrowski in the #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet and edged out the Frenchman in a dramatic photo finish — just 0.030 seconds separated them at the line. Mulders also claimed victory in the Master Trophy standings ahead of Dombrowski. The two were the last contenders standing in the fight for second place after several potential podium finishers either retired or were shuffled down the order.
Claudio Cappelli came out on top in the Legend Trophy after an exciting, multi-lap battle with Melvin de Groot, who ultimately rounded out the top-5. The Italian passed the Dutch veteran in the closing stages to secure the class win for drivers aged 45 and over. RDV Competition’s Patrick Schober followed in sixth. The Austrian threw everything he had at de Groot in a bid to crack the top-5, but the Dutchman held firm through multiple side-by-side duels and brought home a solid result for Team Bleekemolen.
Roberto Benedetti completed the Legend Trophy podium in seventh overall, clinching what was his 16th career top-10 finish. Florian Richard came home eighth, rounding out the Master Trophy top-3. Rookies Sandro Tavartkiladze and Valentino Gambarotto completed the top-10, with Gambarotto recovering well from a first-lap spin to deliver a strong finish in his #11 Ford Mustang.
Now, let’s look back at the chaos and incidents that made this race a truly memorable one: After Gambarotto’s early spin, Claudio Cappelli and Thomas Toffel made contact. Heading side-by-side into the tight hairpin in Sector 3, Toffel dove deep and nudged reigning champion Martin Doubek, sending both into a spin. That opened the door for Mulders and Dombrowski to slip into the top-3 – but that wouldn’t be the last time Toffel and Doubek featured prominently in the drama.
Trying to recover from the earlier incident, Toffel soon found himself battling with Happinessa. The two made contact, sending Happinessa hard into the tire barrier while Toffel spun across the track. Arianna Casoli, doing everything she could to avoid the chaos, had no chance to dodge the stricken Swiss’ car and slammed into it. All three drivers were able to exit their cars under their own power and walk away. While Toffel and Happinessa were later released from the trackside medical center, Casoli went to a nearby medical facility for further evaluation of her arm. She is alert and in good spirits, details on her condition are expected Sunday morning.
Even after the race resumed more than 30 minutes later, the drama didn’t let up. On the very first green flag lap, Mario Ercoli suffered a puncture that quickly brought out a Full Course Yellow. The FCY returned again with four laps to go after the retirement of Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport’s Andres Beers. During that neutralization, the race took yet another twist: defending OPEN champion Martin Doubek’s difficult start to the season got worse as his #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang coasted to a halt just moments before the third and final restart — dealing another blow to his title defense. Hendriks Motorsport stated that the initial contact involving Doubek created a fuel draft issue and caused the engine to run out of gas.
Plenty of crews will have a long night ahead, as many cars sustained heavy damage in what was an indescribable Round 3 of the OPEN championship. Still, they’ll need to repair their machines in time for Sunday’s action. The OPEN drivers will return to the track on 10:25 CEST, while the PRO competitors will wrap up the 2025 NASCAR GP Italy at Autodromo di Vallelunga on 14:25 CEST. Catch Round 4 of both divisions live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel and on TV networks across the globe.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
