Thomas Krasonis inherited the victory in OPEN Round 7 after Jordan O’Brien got penalized for a restart violation – Sandro Tavartkiladze celebrated the first podium for Georgia
- Thomas Krasonis secured his third OPEN victory of 2025
- A five-second penalty relegated Jordan O’Brien to second position
- Georgia celebrated the first NASCAR Euro Series for Sandro Tavartkiladze
The third win of his 2025 OPEN season came in the most unexpected way for Thomas Krasonis in OPEN Round 7 at Autodrom Most. The Greek inherited the victory by the slimmest of margins following a 5-second penalty inflicted to Jordan O’Brien, as only 0.013 seconds separated the PK Carsport driver from the Club Competition rival in the final results. O’Brien crossed the line in first position at the end of an exciting and unpredictable race in the NASCAR GP Czech Republic, but a restart procedure infringement relegated him to second.
A moment of chaos at the start of the race was the key for many drivers. O’Brien started ninth but somehow found his way through the melee to take the lead and defend it until the end. Along the way, he led the field to a restart from a Virtual Safety Car caused by Florian Richard’s mechanical issue and that’s when he jumped the green, a mistake that cost him 5 seconds after the race.
“I told you before the start that I was hoping for a clean race, we showed in PRO it was possible but apparently some think that they will win in the first corner,” said Krasonis after the race. “They risked other drivers’ race for one move because they could see the leaders. It’s not possible to do so in Most. Out of luck nobody took me in at the start, I managed to stay calm, put the pace in and bring the car home. It’s crazy what has happened. I will be a little more careful tomorrow.”
There was plenty of action in the field. Bruno Mulders held second for a while, but he was unfortunate to not finish the race as a front-right failure with just five laps to go ended what had been a promising race for the young Dutchman. Cappelli inherited second from Mulders, but in the final laps he battled with Martin Doubek. Doubek was poised to complete a comeback drive to second position following his opening lap troubles, but a contact with the Italian resulted in a spin.
This handed second position to Gil Linster, but the Luxembourger had a 30-second penalty looming on him. Thomas Krasonis not only benefitted from this as the Greek was third on the road at the line, but also one of the most consistent rookies in OPEN: Sandro Tavartkiladze. Tavartkiladze also took advantage of the opening lap incident to move his way up to fourth from tenth on the grid. The incidents of Mulders, Doubek and Cappelli and Linster’s penalty then gave Tavartkiladze the opportunity to celebrate Georgia’s first overall podium in NASCAR Euro Series, having also taken home second in the Master Trophy.
Doubek recovered swiftly from his final lap woes to finish fourth ahead of Patrick Schober and Valerio Marzi. Marzi completed a Club Competition double podium in the Master Trophy with his sixth place result. Melvin de Groot, championship leader entering the Czech Republic, came back from pre-race issues to finish seventh and take another win in the Legend Trophy classifications. Andres Beers, Thomas Dombrowski and Dominique Schaak rounded out the top-10 with Linster relegated to eleventh after the penalty was applied.
Michael Bleekemolen and Sven van Laere both snatched the Legend Trophy podium positions away from Cappelli, who was unable to get his Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport Ford Mustang out of the gravel trap. Problems were also had by Happinessa, whose car did not go at the formation lap.
In an unprecedented situation, two drivers clocked the fastest lap of the race: Martin Doubek and Bruno Mulders, both having set the exact same fastest lap of 1:42.015. Doubek was the one to be declared as the pole sitter for Sunday’s Round 8, as the reigning two-time champion finished the race in a higher position than Mulders.
De Groot’s recovery to seventh is enough to maintain his lead in the overall standings, now with his gap reduced to four points as Doubek remains hot in the heels of the tall Dutchman that still leads the Legend Trophy. Schober’s consistent gains kept him in third with only a five point deficit to de Groot. Krasonis moves up to fourth, only six points behind the Team Bleekemolen driver. Dombrowski, in fifth place with 216 points, holds a narrow lead of two points to first-time podium finisher Tavartkiladze in the Master Trophy race. O’Brien’s results boosted him up to 18th overall, having also scored the bonus points for most positions gained.
NASCAR fans in the Czech Republic have witnessed history on Saturday, but there’s still more opportunities for more celebrations to occur on Sunday’s running of the NASCAR GP Czech Republic. OPEN drivers will hit the track first at 10:40 CEST, with PRO completing the weekend with their Round 8 at 14:50 CEST. Make sure to tune in to EuroNASCAR’s official YouTube channel and TV channels around the world to get all of your race action live, with EuroNASCAR social media accounts also providing fans with more content from the races at Autodrom Most.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
