Thomas Dombrowski holds on to his advantage in the Master Trophy thanks to PK Carsport’s great teamwork – Six different drivers finished on the class podium in the UK
- Thomas Dombrowski keeps Master Trophy lead despite a big crash
- Sandro Tavartkiladze and Bruno Mulders continue to be the closest chasers
- Florian Richard, Dominique Schaak, Matthew Ellis and Jordan O’Brien all impressed at Brands Hatch
The battle for series debutants and aspiring amateurs in the Master Trophy in the 2025 NASCAR GP UK delivered plenty of headlines. Class leader Thomas Dombrowski valiantly held on to his lead in the points standings thanks to PK Carsport’s hard work to rebuild his car overnight after a scary crash in practice. The Frenchman’s closest rivals Sandro Tavartkiladze and Bruno Mulders continued their strong starts to their maiden campaign. Florian Richard secured his first class podium of 2025 in Round 6 while Dominique Schaak led his first laps in extreme weather conditions. The returning Matthew Ellis also scored his first lead laps while debutant Jordan O’Brien grabbed a surprise pole position in just his second start in the OPEN division and stunned everyone with his driving skills in the rain.
Dombrowski’s practice crash was violent – the Frenchman rolled his car several times and came to a rest upside down in the runoff area. The driver of the #24 Chevrolet Camaro walked away under his own power and was cleared to compete after a mandatory medical checkup. With his car rebuilt and feeling as good as new, Dombrowski finished second in Master Trophy and narrowly missed out on an overall podium finish in a very eventful OPEN Round 5. An incident with Andres Beers denied Dombrowski of a double Trophy podium, but he collected important points to keep an eight-point lead over Tavartkiladze in the overall standings.
Tavartkiladze continues to build up his resume as one of the most consistent drivers in OPEN in 2025. The Georgian driver kept his head cool in the heavy rain conditions on Saturday and claimed his first overall top-5 as well as third in the Master Trophy. His chances of a victory on Sunday was shattered due to early mechanical problems that left him unable to take his place in the starting grid, but Team Georgia with technical partner RDV Competition gave Tavartkiladze a great #9 Chevrolet Camaro and he climbed back up to eighth.
Mulders was the star of the class in Round 5. The young Dutchman joined his Team Bleekemolen teammate Melvin de Groot on the overall podium, a result that also secured his third Master Trophy win of 2025. Round 6 ended with an early retirement, leaving the driver of the #72 Toyota Camry 17 points behind. However, Mulders’ speed and synergy with Team Bleekemolen will make him a threat to watch in the remaining rounds of the season.
Florian Richard has been flying under the radar: The Frenchman who competes in his second season with Speedhouse quietly racked up four consecutive top-10 finishes after a tough outing in the season opener in Spain. Richard was waiting for the chance to take his first piece of silverware in 2025 and he did so in Round 6, finishing third in class and seventh overall. The driver of the #33 Ford Mustang is only 26 points behind with three events still to go.
Dominique Schaak had a breakthrough weekend in Brands Hatch. The German driver for Bremotion gambled on the wets at the start of Round 5 and was rewarded with his first lead laps of his NASCAR Euro Series career. He followed this up by tying his career best finish of sixth in Round 6, also securing second place in the Trophy classifications. This result will undoubtedly motivate the driver from Magdeburg, who is within 35 points of Dombrowski in the overall standings.
Andres Beers brought a new look to his #1 Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang to the UK and is sixth in the Master Trophy standings. Valentino Gambarotto and Mario Ercoli follow suit, currently sitting ahead one of NASCAR GP UK’s biggest surprises: Matthew Ellis.
Ellis joined Lux Motorsport as a late substitute for Ercoli and enjoyed his best NASCAR Euro Series weekend so far. His immense knowledge of the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit allowed Ellis to storm to the lead in Round 5, which he maintained for the majority of the races. Late problems denied the Brit his first podium, but he duly did so in Round 6. Ellis fought competitively at the front and secured a top-5 finish. With that, he achieved his first Master Trophy win on the pink #21 Chevrolet Camaro.
Valerio Marzi completes the top-10 ahead of Jordan O’Brien, who showed tremendous speed in his debut for Club Competition. In the pouring rain, O’Brien unlapped himself under green flag conditions in Round 5 and set the fastest lap time of the race, securing an unlikely pole position in just his second ever start. The American fought with multi-time champion Doubek in the opening laps of Round 6, but was denied a possible podium result when he hit technical issues with just two laps to go. Still, his performance is highly commendable and will be noticed upon by both fans and fellow competitors alike.
The Master Trophy standings are completed by Gordon Barnes, Mike Wise and Davide Frulio. Barnes grabbed his first top-10 OPEN finish in Round 6, while Wise and Frulio took part in their first starts in the division. With a highly competitive class featuring many strong drivers, there’s bound to be more stories to be told when Master Trophy and NASCAR Euro Series return to action with the NASCAR GP Czech Republic on 30-31 August 2025.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
