Fueled by raw passion and an unmatched work ethic, former pocket bike ace Thomas Toffel transformed himself into a NASCAR heavyweight and OPEN champion
- Thomas Toffel is your 2026 NASCAR Euro Series OPEN Champion
- The Swiss completed a relentless evolution crowned with three wins and 11 top-10s
- THT by Race Art Technology transformed into a powerhouse in the NASCAR Euro Series
Former Swiss pocket bike champion Thomas Toffel officially completed his remarkable transformation into a touring car powerhouse during the 2026 NASCAR Euro Series season. Piloting the #34 THT by Race Art Technology Chevrolet Camaro, the 35-year-old clinched the OPEN championship in a nail-biting showdown at Belgium’s Circuit Zolder. A red-hot start featuring three straight trips to Victory Lane in Valencia and Le Castellet, paired with clinical consistency down the stretch, proved enough to hold off title rivals Thomas Dombrowski and Raphael Lessard. What began as a journey forged in grit, heart, and relentless dedication ended right where every race driver dreams to be: parked in Victory Lane with championship hardware held high.
The leap from two wheels to the agile and powerful touring cars was anything but a walk in the park. When the Swiss racer joined the grid for the 2022 season finale before launching his first full-time campaign in 2023, he faced the brutal task of taming an unruly, 400-horsepower V8 beast with zero electronic driving aids. The natural pace was evident right away, but Toffel lacked the week-in, week-out consistency demanded by NASCAR Euro Series competition. Year after year, he put in the work behind the wheel, sharpened his racecraft, and steadily climbed the ranks of the OPEN division. Doubling down on his track time by running the V8GP proved to be the ultimate catalyst, as it allowed the Fribourg native to accelerate his learning curve dramatically.
By 2026, Toffel put the entire garage on notice with clinical drives, blistering pace, and masterful wheel-to-wheel racecraft. Across 12 rounds, he racked up three victories, five runner-up finishes, and 11 top-10 performances. More importantly, Toffel matured into a complete racer – elevating his situational awareness and building the poise required to extract front-running speed every single weekend. The payoff was a storybook championship campaign at the wheel of one of the fastest hot rods on the grid: the #34 THT by Race Art Technology Camaro.
Toffel kicked off his title run with an authoritative weekend sweep, dominating the field at Spain’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. He carried that winning momentum straight into Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, powering away to his third consecutive checkered flag. While that proved to be his final victory of the year, Toffel never lifted the throttle off. He continued to stockpile top-10 finishes and when the 35-year-old had his sole bad outing at Brands Hatch, the Swiss smartly wrote it off as his regular-season dropped score when he bounced back at Autodrom Most with back-to-back second-place finishes, setting the tone for the Playoffs.
At Autodromo di Vallelunga in Italy, Toffel banked 140 vital championship points with two gritty runner-up results, even as Lessard dialed up the pressure with a dominant weekend sweep of his own. That set the stage for a dramatic showdown at Zolder, where Lessard held a mathematical shot at the crown. But Toffel refused to blink.
Under torrential Belgian skies, the Swiss contender stayed cool in the cockpit while his rival’s hopes went up in smoke on pit road due to severe visibility and mechanical woes. With the championship door wide open, Toffel brought the car home second in Saturday’s dramatic rain race and sealed the deal with a calculated fifth position on Sunday. He comfortably held off Dombrowski, who edged past Lessard for runner-up honors in the final standings.
Thomas Toffel let his emotions out in the Victory Lane, having finally achieved his dreams to become the 2026 OPEN champion. Armed with a deep notebook of V8 seat time and a newfound championship pedigree, the 35-year-old will roll into 2027 as an undisputed title threat wherever he straps in. Meanwhile, THT by Race Art Technology took a massive leap into prime time, cementing their status as a front-running powerhouse in European touring racing. With the weight of the racing world finally off Toffel’s shoulders, the entire crew, friends, and family ignited a wild celebration in the Zolder paddock – capping a hard-fought championship in NASCAR Euro Series’ most unpredictable division.
Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Nina Weinbrenner
