Gianmarco Ercoli mastered the challenging V8GP Round 01 after leading all laps from pole position – The Italian beat main rivals Paul Jouffreau and Vittorio Ghirelli amidst intense heat that made it a challenge for drivers
- Gianmarco Ercoli led from start to finish to win the 2026 NASCAR Euro Series opener
- Paul Jouffreau defeated Vittorio Ghirelli after a race-long battle
- The Italian has a chance to do the sweep in V8GP Round 2
Gianmarco Ercoli officially secured his early lead in the 2026 NASCAR Euro Series V8GP championship race. The Italian maintained the lead that he had from his excellent qualifying result and never looked back in Round 1 of the NASCAR GP Spain. The driver of the #11 Alumitec Racing Ford Mustang led from start to finish and managed his Hoosier tires perfectly to secure his 14th victory in the top division of the official European NASCAR championship.
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Intense heat at Circuit Ricardo Tormo made tire management more challenging than usual, but Ercoli was able to extract the maximum out of his car and earn the fastest lap, therefore securing pole position for the V8GP Round 2 on Sunday.
“It’s not easy because I fought a lot with myself to get the best time for tomorrow!” said Ercoli in Victory Lane. “I pushed hard because I didn’t see the lap times until the final six laps, but I think I can push a lot for tomorrow. The car is good and for tomorrow it’ll be fast and light like today.”
While Ercoli controlled the pace at the front, Paul Jouffreau and Vittorio Ghirelli engaged in an intense fair and square battle for second position that went on for the entire race. The Frenchman won the duel and clinched the top spot in the Junior Trophy with this result. Ghirelli held off a late pressure from Jordan O’Brien to maintain the final podium place. But with only 0.132 seconds separating O’Brien from the top-3, the American can say that his V8GP debut went better than he expected.
An incident at the opening lap took out several major contenders such as Thomas Krasonis, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Vinnie Meskelis. This opened an opportunity for many dark horses to grab major results, including Jack Davidson who grabbed fifth place in the overall classification and second in Junior Trophy. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Garrett Lowe clawed their way from the back to finish in sixth and seventh. Lowe capped off his charge from 24th on the grid by claiming not only bonus points for most positions gained, but also third place in the Junior Trophy.
Ulysse Delsaux, Logan Bearden and Marc Goossens rounded out the top-10 finishers ahead of Martin Doubek, who was penalized for contact with Goossens. Kenko Miura was victorious in the Challenger Trophy after the Japanese driver led the elite amateurs in 12th overall. Giovanni Cartechini and Alex Caffi completed the podium in the special classification in 13th and 14th respectively.
With a thrilling V8GP race in the books, OPEN drivers will have their time in the spotlight for their Round 1 at 16:55 CEST. Make sure you keep up with NASCAR Euro Series’ official website and social media accounts for the latest updates and visit www.nascar.eu/watch to find out where you can watch the exciting showdown from the gladiators that competed in the NASCAR GP Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Nina Weinbrenner
