Jordan O’Brien was crowned as the V8GP winner in a classic race at Autodrom Most – Battle scars to the #50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang did not stop O’Brien on his way to the Victory Lane
- Jordan O’Brien took his first V8GP win with some battle scars to his Hendriks Motorsport machine
- O’Brien is the first American driver to win in V8GP since Ben Kennedy in 2012
- Gianmarco Ercoli and Thomas Krasonis fought their way to the podium
In 2025, Jordan O’Brien experienced a major heartbreak when a post-race penalty denied him from a NASCAR GP Czech Republic victory in the OPEN division, but fast forward one year later, the American laid his demons to rest with his biggest achievement just yet: A maiden V8GP win. It was not an easy race for him as the infamous chicane at Autodrom Most created some battle scars in his #50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang, but O’Brien persevered and held off the challenges from Thomas Krasonis and Gianmarco Ercoli to grab a popular first victory in the top division of the NASCAR Euro Series.
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“You guys know the story of last year, this place has a special place in my heart!” said O’Brien in Victory Lane, the first American to win in V8GP since Ben Kennedy in 2012. “Last year I got a penalty for a mistake on the restart and ironically, the protest came from my team this year! They owed me this one, but we got it back, so it’s all right, we’re feeling good. When you’re leading, the last thing you want to do is to think about the big stuff. You just try to make as little mistakes as possible, look at the time delta in the dashboard, keep it the same and preserve the tires for tomorrow. We had a good lap for tomorrow and I gotta say, this side of the car looks great but the other side is a little less aerodynamic! We were a bit down on top speed with the damage, but we’ll get it sorted for tomorrow.”
O’Brien and Krasonis entertained the fans with their thrilling lead battle in the opening parts of the race. Unfortunately for Krasonis, a mistake in the chicane of lap 8 cost him several places. The Greek’s problems allowed Gianmarco Ercoli to battle O’Brien for the lead at the restart on lap 11, the result of a full course yellow period that came after Giovanni Cartechini had a spin in the final corner. Ercoli tried his best to tail the Las Vegas resident, but with a throttle problem developing in his #11 Alumitec Racing Ford Mustang, the Italian decided to play the long game and collected the points with a runner-up finish.
Krasonis was left wondering what could have happened had he not made his mistake. For the Greek, a return to the podium positions was not enough: He wanted to top the ranks to increase his chances in the title battle. Despite this, third place was enough for the PK Carsport driver to grab the winners cup in the Junior Trophy. Teammate and reigning two-time V8GP champion Vittorio Ghirelli continued his top-5 streak with a fourth place result while Martin Doubek completed the top-5 after surviving a late tire rub scare. Having moved up eight positions, Doubek was also awarded with the bonus points for gaining the highest number of positions from where he started the race.
O’Brien wasn’t the only American to win the top prize in V8GP’s classification for Round 7. Challenger Trophy winner Logan Bearden rode the race of his life as he fought the championship contenders to score a career best sixth place finish. Vinnie Meskelis and Jack Davidson followed Bearden to the checkered flag and joined Krasonis in the Junior Trophy podium. Nelson Piquet Jr. and Garrett Lowe rounded the top-10, having recovered from a poor qualifying result and a misadventure at the chicane respectively. Brenna Schubert and Michael Bleekemolen, in their first V8GP races of 2026, claimed the podium positions in the Challenger Trophy in 14th and 15th.
Rear axle problems limited Thomas Toffel’s track time in the race, but it gave him the opportunity to complete one of NASCAR Euro Series’ finest accomplishments. With good Hoosier tires in his boots, the OPEN pole sitter set the fastest lap with a new race lap record of 1:39.971. Not only did Toffel secure his first V8GP pole position for Sunday’s race, the Swiss driver also became just the second driver to claim pole position in V8GP and OPEN on the same weekend, the first to do so since Vladimiros Tziortzis during his V8GP debut weekend at Valencia in 2023.
There’s no doubt that V8GP has thoroughly entertained the many thousands of fans that are watching the NASCAR GP Czech Republic both on track at Autodrom Most and in front of your TV screens, but more is still to come with the first OPEN race that are scheduled to go live at 17:00 CEST. Grab your popcorns, because this will be one to remember. All races from the 2026 running of the NASCAR GP Czech Republic are streamed live from DAZN, YouTube and various local TV partners that you can find at https://www.nascar.eu/watch/.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Nina Weinbrenner
