NASCAR Euro Series – Calling his shot: Martin Doubek predicts his victory in Spain

Prior to OPEN Round 2 at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain, Martin Doubek was approached by NASCAR Euro Series reporter Andre Wiegold to ask if he would win the race. The defending OPEN champion said three simple words: “Yeah, I’ll win”. After 15 laps full of twists and turns, his prediction would come true thanks to a highly commanding drive at Valencia. A manic start gave the driver of the #7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang an opportunity to grab a lead that he would never surrender, putting his title defense back on the right track.

“Yes, I won!” said Doubek in Victory Lane. “We started from second and I had a good start. I don’t know what happened to Thomas (Krasonis), I have to check it. But it was a good race, we clocked the fastest lap. I’m happy to be back in the Victory Lane again and now we celebrate.”

Doubek was very fortunate to avoid an incident involving some of his closest rivals, including Round 1 winner Thomas Krasonis and Patrick Schober. With them out of the picture, Doubek had his hands firmly controlling the race. The 30-year old driver took the checkered flag with a lead of 1.224 seconds from a new visitor to the podium: OPEN newcomer Bruno Mulders. The young Dutchman kept Doubek in sight, showing the potential the Team Bleekemolen driver had. Mulders also took the victory in the Master Trophy for rookie and gentleman drivers.

Kenko Miura ran a great race and made a daring pass on Melvin de Groot on the penultimate lap to score his second ever podium finish. With a gap of six years and 175 days from his previous podium, the 45-year old driver broke the record for the longest gap between podium finishes in EuroNASCAR. The Japanese driver’s decisive move on de Groot also secured his victory in the Legend Trophy and granted him four bonus points as the driver with the most positions gained.

Gil Linster recovered strongly from his participation in the opening lap incident to finish in fourth place. De Groot – second in the Legend Trophy – held on to a top-5 finish after Sandro Tavartkiladze received a penalty for a track limit infringement. The Georgian also took second place in the Master Trophy, showcasing plenty of potential behind the wheel of an EuroNASCAR car. Andres Beers completed the Master Trophy podium in seventh overall.

Despite finding himself going the wrong way in the opening lap, Schober charged his way back to eight place to score important championship points. Valentino Gambarotto and Thomas Dombrowski rounded out the top-10. Roberto Benedetti in eleventh filled the last podium position in the Legend Trophy. Arianna Casoli once again won the Lady Trophy after Happinessa lost plenty of ground following an early race spin.

The unpredictable nature of the 2025 NASCAR GP Spain resulted in Gil Linster exiting the season opener as the OPEN leader. With 68 points, the Luxembourger have an advantage of one point from Legend Trophy leader Kenko Miura. Patrick Schober trails in third with 63 points, also one point ahead of Melvin de Groot – second in Legend Trophy – and Master Trophy’s leader Sandro Tavartkiladze. Bruno Mulders and Thomas Dombrowski completed the Master Trophy top-3 in sixth and seventh overall. Race winners Martin Doubek and Thomas Krasonis are down in eighth and ninth respectively. Arianna Casoli leads the Lady Trophy competitors in 16th position.

With OPEN’s action completed, there’s only one more race to go from the 2025 NASCAR GP Spain: PRO Round 2, scheduled to go live from 13:55 CEST. Make sure you tune in to the official EuroNASCAR YouTube channel and TV channels around the world as you don’t want to miss the action from the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.