Gianmarco Ercoli and Martin Doubek made their winning bids known grabbing the Strom Watches Pole Awards in PRO and OPEN – The Italian took his tenth career PRO pole position while the Czech grabbed first row start in 2025
- Gianmarco Ercoli qualified on pole position in PRO
- Martin Doubek continued to lead in OPEN
- Garrett Lowe produced his best PRO qualifying effort in second place
Bright sunshine greeted NASCAR Euro Series drivers in PRO and OPEN for a highly important qualifying session for the NASCAR GP Czech Republic. With only two races remaining in the regular season and the worst points score to drop afterwards, maximizing grid position for the first race of the weekend on Saturday was vital. Alumitec Racing’s Gianmarco Ercoli clocked the fastest lap in PRO Superpole ahead of the fast Bremotion driver from United States Garrett Lowe, while local hero Martin Doubek set the pace at the wheel of his #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang in the OPEN division.
PRO: Ercoli ahead of Lowe
Ercoli transformed his championship propositions after his sweep in the United Kingdom and winning the Strom Watches Pole Award in the Czech Republic solidified the potential of the #11 Alumitec Racing Ford Mustang. The Italian stamped his position as the driver to beat with a quick lap time of 1:40.724 to secure his tenth career pole position in PRO. With his rivals behind him on the grid for Round 7, Ercoli maximized the chances to claim his third consecutive win in the 2025 season.
“I stayed on the limit,” said Ercoli on his secret to clinch the pole position. “I stayed very close to the track limits, I touched the kerbs all the time and this is the difference. I took too much risk to make the difference, but when you stop the timer, the difference can be big. All the past years here we have had problems, crashes, and rain like yesterday, so this isn’t our track but with a setup upgrade we managed to achieve incredible results.”
A new face lined up in the front row of the grid: Lowe. The American esports star is poised for a podium finish and maybe his maiden race win at Autodrom Most after he slotted his #99 Bremotion Chevrolet Camaro in second position. Lowe also led the Junior Trophy classifications. Home crowd hero Doubek made his presence known with a third place result, just ahead of Paul Jouffreau who took second in the Junior Trophy and fourth on the overall grid. Thomas Krasonis in fifth completed the Junior Trophy top-3 rankings.
Fabrizio Armetta was sixth ahead of talented youngsters Jack Davidson and Liam Hezemans. 2022 winner at Most, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, qualified ninth ahead of Vittorio Ghirelli. Mechanical issues left the championship leader with a lot of ground to make up as he aims to keep his lead entering the double points Playoffs in Germany and Belgium. Michal Makes brought further joy to the Czech fans by finishing 12th overall. Claudio Cappelli, Thomas Toffel and Davit Kajaia were the top-3 drivers in the Challenger Trophy.
OPEN: Doubek on top at home
After his dominant run in Friday practice, many were expecting Doubek to maintain his winning form into qualifying and the Czech driver again delivered. A time of 1:41.395 was enough to give the driver of the #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang his first Strom Watches Pole Award of 2025. With the best seat in the house for the start of Round 7, all that’s left from Doubek is to make the perfect start and wow the home fans who have come in droves to see their NASCAR Euro Series hero at the 4.212 kilometer Autodrom Most.
“It was nice, but it was a pity that I didn’t do a faster lap in PRO,” said Doubek, who came close to completing a qualifying sweep. “I’m only P3 in PRO, but Gimmy is very fast. I will have pole position in OPEN, which makes me happy. It’s also a pity that we won’t have grid walks for the OPEN race, but I will enjoy it for sure and I will do my best for the podium. There’s almost 500 people already here to support me on Saturday morning, which is nice. I hope there’ll be more for Sunday.”
Keeping Doubek honest was PK Carsport’s Krasonis, who was only 0.076 seconds away from pole position. Bruno Mulders led the Master Trophy in third overall. The young Dutchman brought home a great reward for everyone at Team Bleekemolen after they worked hard to quickly repair a broken suspension that the #72 Toyota Camry suffered in PRO qualifying. Gil Linster was fourth ahead of championship leader Melvin de Groot, still the fastest in Legend Trophy.
Patrick Schober led a pack of Master Trophy contenders in sixth, the Austrian being just in front of Master Trophy top-3 finishers Valentino Gambarotto and Thomas Dombrowski. Brands Hatch sensation Jordan O’Brien and consistent Georgian Sandro Tavartkiladze closed out the top-10 positions. Claudio Cappelli, with a refreshed Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport machine after a crash on Friday, was second in the Legend Trophy with Michael Bleekemolen rounding out the top-3 in the special classification. Engine issue prevented Lady Trophy’s Happinessa to set a lap in the session.
The sun is expected to keep shining when drivers line up to the grid for the first PRO race at 13:40 CEST, with OPEN scheduled to go green for their Round 07 at 17:25 CEST. Make sure you tune in to the NASCAR Euro Series YouTube channel and TV channels all around the world for the best action in the official European NASCAR championship at the Czech Republic.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
