NASCAR Euro Series – Young guns Jouffreau and Krasonis claim the first Strom Watches Pole Awards in 2025

A new era for NASCAR Euro Series continues with the first Qualifying of 2025 in the NASCAR GP Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. EuroNASCAR introduced a new, single car oriented format for PRO and it proved to be a great success as every competitor received equal visibility during runs and more unpredictability to the field. This shake-up allowed Paul Jouffreau to get the chance to stop Vittorio Ghirelli’s commanding Qualifying streak, with the Frenchman laying claim to his first Strom Watches Pole Award since 2023. OPEN’s Qualifying sees Thomas Krasonis taking home his first Strom Watches Pole Award, meaning that the two young drivers will have the best seats in the house coming to Round 1 on Saturday.

PRO: Jouffreau stops Ghirelli’s Qualifying streak

One of the biggest stories from 2024 is Vittorio Ghirelli’s unstoppable domination in Qualifying. Ghirelli claimed all seven Strom Watches Pole Awards and aimed to make it eight-in-a-row during the 2025 NASCAR GP Spain. Everything seems to go smoothly for the reigning EuroNASCAR PRO champion after he set a great time of 1:40.901, but it was not to be. Paul Jouffreau of RDV Competition showed his muscles and clocked a lap of 1:40.608 in the #3 Ford Mustang to deny Ghirelli from extending the streak with a phenomenal lap.

“It was just easy,” said Jouffreau after receiving the Strom Watches Pole Award. “The car went wherever I wanted, the tires are fantastic and I did a good job at the outlap to make the best out of it. I’m really happy, we worked so hard this winter to get the Pole Position. This was the part where I was losing last year with Ghirelli getting all the poles, so it’s a good way to start the championship!”

Jouffreau’s pole lap also meant that he was also the fastest in the Junior Trophy. The Frenchman undoubtedly is going to be wary of PK Carsport’s speed because Ghirelli’s teammate Thomas Krasonis came home in third place. Not only was this Krasonis’ best ever Qualifying in PRO, it also ensured the Greek the second place in the Junior Trophy. Liam Hezemans in fourth completed the top-3 positions in Junior Trophy.

Yvan Muller’s return to racing continued to go smoothly with a top-5 Qualifying effort on his own M Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Garrett Lowe made a great case for sim racing talents wanting to give EuroNASCAR a shot by qualifying sixth. Claudio Cappelli in seventh was the fastest Challenger Trophy contender. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Gianmarco Ercoli and Jack Davidson completed the top-10. Davit Kajaia and Max Lanza rounded out the Challenger Trophy top-3 in 13th and 14th positions.

OPEN: Lucky #13 for Thomas Krasonis

Thomas Krasonis continues his pursuit for a first OPEN title with a new team: PK Carsport. The decision to move to the Belgian powerhouse paid off instantly after the Greek took pole position in an intense OPEN Qualifying in Spain. Top positions were traded by several drivers, but in the end Krasonis came through with a lap time of 1:41.595 onboard his #13 Chevrolet Camaro. With a third place result in PRO and the Strom Watches Pole Award in his hands in OPEN, the 23-year old is undoubtedly feeling over the moon with the results that he has achieved.

“Well, I don’t have to say anything because all that matters is the race, but it’s a good feeling knowing that I’m in first position after the Qualifying procedure,” said Krasonis. “We worked a lot for this, the only thing left now is to make a good start and bring it home. We need to stay calm, not to make mistakes like last year. This year I think we came back faster and stronger, so it will be a completely different race!”

Legend Trophy leader Claudio Cappelli led for a good majority of the session, but in the end the Italian with the infamous beard had to settle for second. Patrick Schober maintained his strong case to become one of OPEN’s primary protagonists with a third place result ahead of defending two-time champion Martin Doubek. Fifth went to the division’s top debuting driver: Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Sandro Tavartkiladze. The Georgian driver showed why he’s an 11-time champion in his home nation with his impressive top-5 result, which is also good enough for the top spot in the new Master Trophy.

Trailing Tavartkiladze was Thomas Dombrowski, who was second in the Master Trophy. Gil Linster and Thomas Toffel managed to qualify seventh and eighth respectively. Bruno Mulders completed the top-3 in Master Trophy in ninth overall while teammate Melvin de Groot and Kenko Miura rounded out the top-3 positions in the Legend Trophy with a tenth and eleventh place result. Happiness Racing led the Lady Trophy contenders in 19th, narrowly beating the vastly more experienced Arianna Casoli by just 0.064 seconds.

Teams and drivers will now have time to sort out their final strategy before the first race of the season goes underway. Broadcast for PRO’s Race 1 will begin at 13:55 CEST, with OPEN Round 1 starting their action at 16:55 CEST. All action from the 2025 NASCAR Euro Series season is available live on EuroNASCAR’s official YouTube channel and numerous TV channels across the world.