Tobias Dauenhauer in victory lane Sunday at Automotodrom Grobnik. (Stephane Azemard Photo)
Tobias Dauenhauer in victory lane Sunday at Automotodrom Grobnik. (Stephane Azemard Photo)

Dauenhauer Bounces Back In Croatia

CAVLE, Croatia – Tobias Dauenhauer led all 14 laps of the Sunday’s EuroNASCAR 2 race at Automotodrom Grobnik in Croatia to secure a dominant victory.

The German pulled away right after the start and sped to victory at the wheel of his #50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang. By collecting his fourth win of the season, Dauenhauer struck back after finishing sixth on Saturday due to a penalty.

Dauenhauer pushed his point lead back to 32 points ahead of the NASCAR GP Belgium at Circuit Zolder on Oct. 9-10. What looked like an easy win for Dauenhauer ended up being a ton of work. Due to the challenging characteristics of the 4.2 kilometer long track on the Croatian Riviera, the German had to give all his best to keep his Mustang at the top of the standings.

“After the penalty yesterday, it’s a real relief,” said the 23-year-old Heppenheim native after the race. “Today was a good day for us as everything went just perfect. The car was great and I was leading the whole race, so there was nothing more to wish for. Thanks to the whole team that kept the focus and provided me with a fantastic car. Now I look forward to the race at Circuit Zolder, a completely different track than Grobnik. It’s the team’s home track so we are ready to attack at the front again.”

Saturday’s race winner Martin Doubek was second under the checkered flag. He was followed by Simon Pilate who drove his Chevrolet Camaro by DF1 Racing to the third place. After a contact that caused a puncture on Saturday, the Belgian missed out the podium but on Sunday Pilate bounced back with a strong performance that was rewarded with his fourth top-five result of the season.

Vladimiros Tziortzis put a lot of pressure on Pilate during the 14-lap race but never found a space to overtake the 19-year-old Belgian. As on Saturday, the Academy Motorsport / Alex Caffi Motorsport driver never took the big risk and focused on scoring important points for the championship battle. The Cypriot already scored his sixth top-five finish in this season so far. After finishing on the podium on Saturday, Justin Kunz confirmed his strong pace at the wheel of the #22 Chevrolet and closed the top-five.