A star’s crowning moment: Vittorio Ghirelli is the 2024 European NASCAR Champion
After a dominant season embellished by seven race wins and a record-breaking seven consecutive Pole Position Awards, Vittorio Ghirelli achieved his ultimate goal of winning the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series championship. The Italian was entangled in an opening lap incident involving countryman Gianmarco Ercoli, but a strong comeback to tenth place under the checkered flag handed him the title. With a large cushion of 34 points entering the EuroNASCAR PRO Playoffs 04, the driver of the #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro needed a 14th place finish and with him finishing inside the top-10, the Fasano native clinched the 2024 EuroNASCAR PRO Championship in the EuroNASCAR Finals.
In the first corner, Ghirelli had to lift off from a fast starting Jouffreau and Ercoli tagged the rear end of the PK Carsport Camaro, sending it into a spin in front of Ghirelli’s team manager Anthony Kumpen. A separate incident between Lucas Lasserre, Julien Rehberg, Fabrizio Armetta and Ryan Vargas also took place and brought out the Safety Car. Coupled with another contact between Thomas Toffel and Tobias Dauenhauer that resulted in a Full Course Yellow period, Ghirelli had the chance to catch up and despite a wounded car, he gained the positions he needed and then played it safe to become the champion.
“In turn 1 he didn’t brake and he pushed me off,” said Ghirelli on the incident in turn 1. “I managed to restart despite being stuck in the gravel and I had stones getting stuck on the throttle, it was really a nightmare. But I managed to get the points and we got it! Thanks to my sponsors and my fans. I’m so happy, it was a hard fight and we did it, that’s what counts! We’ll have a few drinks for sure, it was an amazing year. The #3 team did a really good job, he’ll be a future champion for sure because he’s a very good talent. Great job for him to take a win, but this time the title was ours!”
Ghirelli’s early incident gave Jouffreau the chance to fight for the victory in Belgium. The Frenchman held his lead on two restarts, but he left the door open for Ercoli who got past the RDV Competition driver with a side-by-side move on lap 10. The youngster kept cool and looked for opportunities to regain the lead. Finally on the last lap, Jouffreau found the space that he was looking for and completed a brilliant move on the penultimate corner to secure his second win of the 2024 season. Therefore, the driver of the #3 Ford Mustang finished second in the championship and took home the title in the Junior Trophy as both the round and the overall winner of the special classification.
“Of course I’m really happy with this race,” said Jouffreau in the Victory Lane. “I was starting second and my goal was to win. We were champions for two laps, but as I said to Vittorio we had some problems during this year because the pressure is so high in the European NASCAR Championship. In the end, Vittorio is a really nice competitor. Big congrats to him, I wanted his place so bad but we’ll get this title soon and I’m happy with my season. Little by little we were faster and I don’t have anything more to say.”
Marc Goossens completed the podium to continue his long streak of success at home in Circuit Zolder. It was a very good day for Marko Stipp Motorsport, who took advantage of the early drama to secure a double top-5 finish with Thomas Krasonis and Victor Neumann. Both Krasonis and Neumann completed the Junior Trophy podium and the latter in addition took the bonus points for most positions gained.
Ulysse Delsaux and Vladimiros Tziortzis were sixth and seventh ahead of Liam Lambert. The Brit showed plenty of speed on Saturday and affirmed that on Sunday with an eighth place finish, his career-best result as well as first place in the Challenger Trophy. Kenko Miura and Ghirelli rounded out the top-10. Miura and Max Lanza in 14th completed the top-3 in Challenger Trophy, but Dario Caso in 15th scored enough points to become the overall winner in the special classification for elite amateurs.
With seven wins and a record-breaking eleven pole position starts, including a perfect seven in Superpole Pole Position Awards, Ghirelli became the ultimate victor with 555 points. Eight points separated him from Jouffreau in second, with Ercoli finishing third on his title defense season. Hezemans and Goossens round out the top-5 positions with Lasserre, Delsaux, Krasonis, Martin Doubek and Ryan Vargas completing the top-10. Challenger Trophy winner Caso was 17th, just three points ahead of Lanza.
The 2024 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season was certainly one to remember. From intense action, drama, excitement, heartbreaks and triumphs, we have witnessed everything that the series has to offer and more is sure to come when the 2025 season starts in Circuit Ricardo Tormo for NASCAR GP Spain on 12-13 April 2025. Until then, be sure to stay in touch with us for the latest off-season news about the official European NASCAR championship.
