Raphael Lessard battled door-to-door with his main rival Thomas Toffel to secure his fourth consecutive OPEN victory – The Canadian completed a NASCAR GP Italy weekend sweep and goes within Toffel’s breath in the title race
- Raphael Lessard swept the OPEN Semi-Final races at Vallelunga
- Only 12 points separate Toffel and Lessard with just the Finals remaining
- Thomas Dombrowski joined the Canadian and the Swiss in the podium
What a battle that we had in the OPEN Semi-Finals 2 at Autodromo di Vallelunga! Raphael Lessard and Thomas Toffel, the two OPEN title protagonists, gave everything that they had in an action packed duel that will be remembered in the history books. The Canadian and the Swiss went door-to-door and made contact as they fought to their limit, but only one driver could be the winner. In the end, it was Lessard who came out victorious after he secured his fifth OPEN win to complete his second weekend sweep in the 2026 season.
NASCAR GP ITALY LINKS: INFO & TICKETS | SCHEDULE | ENTRY LIST | LIVE TIMING | WATCH LIVE
The battle between the two gladiators was hard, but fair: Toffel backed out of a passing attempt on Lessard on lap 11 after the two cars touched at the slow but challenging Tornatino hairpin. The THT by Race Art Technology driver kept the pressure at the maximum, climaxing in a dramatic moment on the last lap. The two drivers made contact at the fearsome Curva Grande, but masterful car control by both drivers allowed them to come out of the incident safely and with silverware in their hands.
“I’m sure Toffel was getting tired, he had so much power in the straights. It’s pretty incredible, I don’t know what we’re going to have to do to find the extra horsepower. I was also starting to lose power steering at the end. I slowed him down, but I was holding my lane and he can go around the outside if you’re not able to make a pass. Can’t thank Alumitec Racing enough, Alain Lord Mounir for believing in me this year and we’re going to do it again in Zolder,” said the driver of the #11 Ford Mustang in Victory Lane.
The drama didn’t just stop at the two OPEN leaders. Claudio Cappelli made a stunning start from the front row of the grid and led the early laps, but the Italian faltered as the laps ticked by. Sandro Tavartkiladze took advantage of a mistake by Cappelli to move up the podium spot, but there was another driver on the move: Thomas Dombrowski. After battling with an imperfect car in Semi-Finals 1, the Frenchman made it a mission to minimize his losses by charging from eighth position to claim the last podium trophy ahead of the Georgian, who maintained his Master Trophy win streak with a fourth class win.
Vladimiros Tziortzis, Gil Linster and Martin Doubek also got by Cappelli, giving them precious championship points for their title bids. Cappelli came home eighth, which was still enough for the CAAL Racing driver to win the Legend Trophy. Valentino Gambarotto and Melvin de Groot completed the overall top-10 and took second place in the Master and Legend Trophy respectively.
Florian Richard barely missed out on the overall top-10, but still secured silverware in the Master Trophy for up-and-coming talents. Beitske Visser is back on the top spot of the Lady Trophy with a 12th place finish, beating Mariam Davitidze and Happinessa who finished 16th and 19th. Federico Monti rounded out the Legend Trophy podium in 18th position.
With Lessard’s sweep at Vallelunga, the stage for an amazing Finals weekend at Circuit Zolder in Belgium is set. Toffel still retained his overall lead, but Lessard is now just 12 points behind with two races remaining. Dombrowski is a further ten points behind in third, having claimed the bonus points for most positions gained that will greatly boost the PK Carsport’s chances. Linster and Tziortzis completed the overall top-5 with Trophy leaders Cappelli (Legend), Taartkiladze (Master) and Visser (Lady) in sixth, eighth and 12th respectively.
With OPEN completing their festivities at the NASCAR GP Italy, the focus shifts to the epic showdown between the elite drivers in V8GP. What surprises awaits the fans after Nelson Piquet Jr.’s win in Semi-Finals 1? Find out on the V8GP Semi-Finals 2 that is scheduled to go live at 14:25 CEST on DAZN, the official NASCAR Euro Series YouTube channel and TV partners around the globe. All info on the Playoffs broadcast can be found at https://www.nascar.eu/watch/.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese
