VALLELUNGA, Italy — The EuroNASCAR 2 Championship was decided in the last race of the season at Autodromo di Vallelunga.
Martin Doubek overcame a 13-point deficit on Tobias Dauenhauer by winning Final 2 in dominant fashion and was crowned the new EuroNASCAR 2 champion. The driver of the No. 7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang sped to victory and grabbed the beautiful EuroNASCAR 2 Championship Trophy made by Tijey.
Doubek entered the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2015 and had his break-through in 2020 when he won his first race at Circuit Zolder. Since then, the Czech became one of the dominant forces in the championship dedicated to young talents and gentlemen drivers.
With five race wins in the 2021 EuroNASCAR 2 season, Doubek capped a perfect year with Hendriks Motorsport by winning his first major title in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
Drama unfolded from lap 1 to the checkered flag: Doubek made a good start and took over second place after starting from third. Francesco Garisto got into the race lead when polesitter Dauenhauer was shuffled back to fifth after being involved in the first turn chaos that took Simon Pilate and Vladimiros Tziortzis out of the race.
With Doubek in second and Dauenhauer in fifth, the latter would have grabbed the championship crown.
On lap three, Doubek overtook Garisto to take the lead – the maximum the Czech was able to do to keep his championship dream alive. The outcome of the Championship depended on Dauenhauer’s finishing position.
The German driving the No. 50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang had to finish no worse than third to get back in the championship lead. On lap seven, Dauenhauer managed to get past Justin Kunz for fourth place.
The championship situation was turned upside down on lap nine, when Dauenhauer took over third with a strong pass on Garisto – the championship crown was now back in the hands of the German. On lap 10, drama struck again as Dauenhauer got off track and hit the barriers.
The German was shuffled back to tenth and saw his chances of winning the championship go up in smoke and dust. At the end of 15 nail-biting laps, Doubek grabbed the checkered flag to become the tenth EuroNASCAR 2 Champion since the inception of the official European NASCAR series in 2012.
“I’m really happy and I don’t know what to say,” Doubek said. “I have no celebrations planned for tonight, but we will celebrate the championship win for sure. Right now, I’m just speechless and feeling awesome. Thanks to all the Hendriks Motorsport crew for an amazing year in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.”
After his dramatic crash on lap 10, Dauenhauer only finished 13th under the checkered flag. As in 2020, the German lost the championship battle in the final race of the season and became the runner-up in 2021 – rounding out a strong 1-2 finish for the Dutch powerhouse Hendriks Motorsport.
The overall podium was completed by Zolder race winner Naveh Talor, who ended up second in a crazy race at Autodromo di Vallelunga. The Israeli had another solid run on his No. 90 Not Only Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro.
NWES veteran Kunz scored his second podium finish of the 2021 NWES season on his #22 DF1 Racing Chevrolet Camaro, while 42 Racing’s Garisto and Double V Racing’s Pierluigi Veronsi rounded out the top-5 of the race. Leonardo Colavita won the race in the Rooky Trophy ranks in sixth right ahead of Leevi Lintukanto.