Garrett Lowe and Thomas Toffel grabbed the Stromwatches.com Pole Awards at Circuit Zolder – In tough conditions, the two championship contenders nailed their laps in Superpole
- Changing conditions delivered plenty of surprises and a mixed grid for the V8GP and OPEN Finals 1
- Garrett Lowe repeated his heroics from the UK to claim his second Stromwatches.com Pole Award
- Thomas Toffel gained first blood from his OPEN rival Raphael Lessard
How the tables can turn so quickly in a blink of an eye! Damp conditions in the Finals qualifying brought plenty of surprises that will make Saturday’s races a thriller to watch! Garrett Lowe capitalized on the mixed weather to grab a highly crucial Stromwatches.com Pole Award in V8GP, while OPEN standings leader Thomas Toffel gained the first blood from his main rival Raphael Lessard in the round that will decide the winner of their season long duel for the title. With the best seat in the house for the first set of double-points paying races, can they maximize their early advantage to further boost their aspiration to bring home the crown?
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V8GP: Deja Vu for Garrett Lowe
If you think Garrett Lowe had done this feat before, you’d be correct: When qualifying at the NASCAR GP UK was held in similarly mixed weather, it was the “Hybrid Racer” who mastered the unpredictable conditions to secure the Stromwatches.com Pole Award. Come the Finals at Circuit Zolder and the American repeats his accomplishment in a spectacular fashion. Having only barely advanced through the first qualifying session on slicks, Lowe came back from the literal depths to clinch his spot in the Superpole. With the track fast evolving, the 24-year old was razor sharp and drove a perfect lap of 1:43.993 to claim both his second career Pole Award and the top spot among the Junior Trophy contenders.
“Q1 was miserable, that was rough!” recalled Lowe after he received his Pole Award. “Some of the guys that were on top in Q1 were on wets and the track went on a phase where you could go on either wets or slicks, so at the end it was a mixed bag. We made the right call and we got lucky as we barely made it through to Q2. I was making the call to go back to the rain tires after Q1, but my engineer told me ‘No, we’re not doing it!’. Great job by the BS+BREMOTION team, we were fast again and we were a second faster to the second place car. It’s a good start and now we got to execute the races.”
Lowe’s pole position couldn’t have come at a better time: V8GP leader Vittorio Ghirelli made a strategic error and was eliminated in the second session. While driving on rain tires in Q1, the team opted to change to slicks for Q2, but with no heat in the compound, the Italian had no chance to fight for top times. With a deficit of 47 points to the Italian entering the Finals and Ghirelli only 15th on the grid, the “Hybrid Racer” is primed to close down his gap by a significant amount. Lowe is joined in the front row by Vinnie Meskelis, a fellow countryman and Junior Trophy contender. The American with Brazilian roots was consistently quick in the evolving conditions, but it wasn’t without drama: He made contact with Jordan O’Brien, creating tension between the two fierce Americans.
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen has a great chance to score his first victory since 2022 after claiming the third spot in Superpole. Paul Jouffreau, third fastest in Junior Trophy was right behind the experienced Dutchman with the 2023 V8GP champion Gianmarco Ercoli in fifth. Local hero Marc Goossens used his extensive track knowledge to beat Nelson Piquet Jr., who will start eight places ahead of Ghirelli in V8GP Final 1. Vladimiros Tziortzis, a strong Giovanni Cartechini and Jack Davidson rounded out the top-10. Cartechini claimed first place in the Challenger Trophy with the first Superpole appearance of his career. Pim van Riet and Davit Kajaia trailed the Italian in 12th and 13th positions respectively.
OPEN: The Start that Thomas Toffel Wanted
Thomas Toffel has been leading the OPEN standings since the opener in Valencia, but heading to the Finals, he’s aware that a sweep by Raphael Lessard will result in the Canadian snatching the OPEN title away from his hands. Keen to put a stop on Lessard’s run of form, the Swiss gave his all during the Superpole and succeeded to beat the Alumitec Racing driver for the Stromwatches.com Pole Award. It was not by much – Toffel took pole with a time of 1:37.707, just 0.226 seconds ahead of Lessard – but it was enough for the THT by Race Art Technology driver to have a clear view for the run to the first corner in OPEN Final 1.
“I played it really risky in Q1, but also I think sometimes it’s an advantage to drive in the two categories because of the experience. However, in this case it wasn’t like that because I knew that I couldn’t break the car and it was wet in the V8GP Q1, so it was difficult to warm it up again and understand where the grip was in the Q1 of OPEN. It’s a good foundation for sure and we have been good in qualifying since the beginning of the season. I have also been first in the championship from the start and I managed the points, but now there’s nothing to count. We just need to win the races and win the championship,” stated Toffel after his run in the OPEN qualifying.
Behind the two leaders, there’s a local star wanting to spoil the party for himself. Jens Beeusaert qualified his Club Competition machine in third, meaning that a home podium is in the cards for the Belgian rookie that also topped the Master Trophy leaderboard. Gil Linster, Vladimiros Tziortzis and Thomas Dombrowski followed behind Beeusaert and maintained their strong chances for the OPEN title. Martin Doubek in the #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford qualified seventh ahead of Fabrizio Armetta, who led the Legend Trophy classification for drivers aged 45 and above.
Sandro Tavartkiladze in ninth will be faced with a lot of homework to catch Beeusaert in the Master Trophy race. Claudio Cappelli completed the top-10 to grab second position in the Legend Trophy. Just barely missing out on the Superpole is the fastest Lady Trophy contender Beitske Visser. Visser beat Happinessa and Mariam Davitidze, who had to fight their way up from 17th and 20th respectively. The returning Michael Bleekemolen completed the Legend Trophy top-3 in 19th position.
With the last qualifying session of 2026 concluded, it is time to start the most spectacular set of double points races that you’ll ever see. V8GP will kick off the action at 13:20 CEST with OPEN turning up the wick for their penultimate race of the season at 16:40 CEST. The tension is rising, the stakes are set and the battles will be electrifying. If you don’t want to miss out on the Finals at Circuit Zolder, head over to https://www.nascar.eu/watch/ to find out the broadcasters that will broadcast the championship decider for the official European NASCAR championship!
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Nina Weinbrenner
