Vittorio Ghirelli kept Garrett Lowe and Nelson Piquet Jr. at bay to win V8GP Round 2 – The two-time champion leads the NASCAR Euro Series V8GP standings after two strong races in Spain
- Vittorio Ghirelli left Spain as the the V8GP championship leader
- Garrett Lowe chased Ghirelli in the closing stages of the race
- Nelson Piquet Jr. grabs a momentous first V8GP podium
The reigning king of the NASCAR Euro Series V8GP championship is back on top. Vittorio Ghirelli secured his first winner’s sticker of 2026 in NASCAR GP Spain Round 2 thanks to improvements made with PK Carsport on the #24 Chevrolet Camaro, allowing the Italian driver to claim the victory. While his rivals struggled with technical issues, Ghirelli did not make any mistakes and held off the challenge by Garrett Lowe and Nelson Piquet Jr. to clinch his 16th career victory in the top division of the official European NASCAR championship.
“It was an amazing race! We were a bit lucky as Paul Jouffreau had some issues as he was very fast. These PK Carsport guys are the best, we had a few issues with a broken axle yesterday and worked hard all night. They stayed awake until 4 AM and now we were able to deliver the results. Still a long battle ahead, but we’re in for it,” said the calm and collected Ghirelli in Victory Lane.
Lowe might have missed out on a maiden V8GP victory, but he did not go down without a fight both literally and figuratively. The American felt unwell when he woke up on Sunday morning, but he put his helmet on come race time and gave Ghirelli a challenge of a lifetime. The driver of the #99 BS+BREMOTION Chevrolet stayed in the Italian’s tail and finished only 0.661 seconds behind, grabbing home both second place in the overall results and first in the Junior Trophy win.
Nelson Piquet Jr. capped off his debut NASCAR Euro Series event with a piece of the silverware. The Brazilian welcomed his new adventure with Alumitec Racing and was excited to see what’s to come in the future for the #48 Ford Mustang crew. After their incidents on Saturday, Thomas Krasonis and Julien Rehberg charged their way to the front and completed the top-5 to accompany Lowe in the Junior Trophy podium.
Also charging their way forward were sixth and seventh place finishers Thomas Toffel and Vinnie Meskelis. Meskelis earned the bonus points for most positions gained by climbing 16 places, one more than both Rehberg and Toffel. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen in eighth helped his #69 Team Bleekemolen Toyota team to win the Endurance Teams Championship battle. Jack Davidson and Logan Bearden rounded out the top-10 positions.
The victory for the Challenger Trophy special classification went to Giovanni Cartechini, who recovered from an opening lap spin to beat Alex Caffi and Brad Ranson in 14th place. Paul Jouffreau and Jordan O’Brien had bad luck after they saw their winning chances evaporate with a puncture and rear axle issues respectively while leading the race.
Gianmarco Ercoli had to park his car at the end of the start-finish straight. The Italian wrestled the car around the track without power steering, dropping from the lead to 12th in the final results. The Italian was treated in the track-side media center and was released. “I’m okay,” he said, heading back to the paddock.
Victory in V8GP Round 2 ensured Vittorio Ghirelli’s status as the V8GP championship leader with 74 points, a crucial advantage heading into a new venue on 23-24 May: Circuit Paul Ricard in France. Junior Trophy leader Garrett Lowe is the closest challenger with a gap of five points, with Ercoli trailing by nine points in third. Jack Davidson and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen round out the overall top-5. Logan Bearden, Thomas Krasonis, Nelson Piquet Jr., Paul Jouffreau and Marc Goossens fill the top-10 positions while Giovanni Cartechini leads the Challenger Trophy in 15th position.
All of the action in Spain is only the prelude for what’s to come next as the official European NASCAR championship welcomed the return of NASCAR GP France as the next round of 2026. Make sure you keep up with NASCAR Euro Series’ official website and social media accounts for the latest updates and if you missed the races live, visit www.nascar.eu/watch to find out where to find the highlights from an incredible set of races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
