Jose Penalta continued where he left off with his third back-to-back victory in EuroNASCAR Rookie Challenge – A narrow margin determined the Spaniard’s advantage from Maxim van Laere
- Penalta secured another victory in EuroNASCAR Rookie Challenge
- The Spaniard narrowly held off Maxim van Laere in mixed weather
- Speedhouse teammate Andreas Kuchelbacher completed the podium
After a lengthy wait of three months, the NASCAR Euro Series Rookie Challenge drivers returned to kick off the NASCAR GP Czech Republic. A mix of returning drivers and new faces tried to get into the mix, but after two timed sessions in wet to drying conditions at the 4.212 kilometer Autodrom Most, a familiar face was the victor: Speedhouse’s Spanish youngster Jose Penalta, who secured his third consecutive win in the 2025 season.
Penalta’s victory at Most was determined by the slimmest of margins, as he and PK Carsport’s Belgian talent Maxim van Laere each scored one first and second place finishes in the timed sessions. With both drivers tied on points, the winner was determined by who won the final timed session. As Penalta topped the final session ahead of van Laere, the driver of the #14 Ford Mustang became the winner in the Czech Republic.
“It was good, but I was too slow in the first timed session as the track was wet but our target time was too high,” Penalta said. “The second session was better and we also went a little bit slower but had a constant speed. In heavy rain it was very difficult because there was a lot of aquaplaning. There was a lot of water on the main straight. In the second session, it was better because it had stopped raining and there the sun came out to dry the track.”
2017 overall winner Andreas Kuchelbacher showed his experience in the challenging weather conditions by taking home a podium finish. His Portuguese teammate Nuno Caetano and the Italian Davide Frulio completed the top-5 ahead of Daniel Boys, who jumped in for Federico Monti in the #1 Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang. Bruno Mulders was seventh ahead of Nicole Davidson and the debuting Brenna Schubert with Yann Cristovao rounding out the top-10. Happinessa beat fellow rookies Robin Bleekemolen and Sebastian Roiko to close out the points scoring positions.
Penalta continues to lead the overall standings with 228 points, 18 ahead of van Laere who remains as the Spaniard’s closest challenger. Kuchelbacher is third with 199 points with Caetano and Mulders completing the top-5 positions. With two more rounds on the schedule in Germany and Belgium, anything can still happen in NASCAR Euro Series’ regularity time-attack division for newcomers interested to try out the NASCAR Euro Series machines.
The action in NASCAR GP Czech Republic will continue with the free practice sessions for both PRO and OPEN. Changing weather conditions meant that teams and drivers need to maximize every opportunity that they can get in the fast and challenging Autodrom Most. Be sure to tune in to the qualifying and races when it go live at EuroNASCAR’s official YouTube channel and TV channels all around the world from Saturday on.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
