The NASCAR GP Italy is back for the sixth visit to the scenic Autodromo di Vallelunga, located close to the Italian capital of Rome. Vallelunga’s nature of having both fast and technical sectors makes it a real challenge for the drivers and teams to find a perfectly balanced setup. After two free practice sessions in both PRO and OPEN each to familiarize themselves with the 4.085 kilometer circuit, Gianmarco Ercoli led an Italian 1-2 in the combined PRO timesheets while reigning OPEN champion Martin Doubek topped the leaderboard in his main division.
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PRO: Gianmarco Ercoli ahead of rival Vittorio Ghirelli
After a tough opening round in Spain, Alumitec Racing and technical partner CAAL Racing worked hard to find the problems that beset the #11 Ford Mustang in Valencia. Initial impressions indicated that the changes improved the car for the better after Ercoli returned back to the top spot in his home venue – a track the last five PRO races saw only winners from Italy in Vittorio Ghirelli and Ercoli.
The driver from Rome clocked the best lap time of 1:41.289 and led his great rival, PK Carsport’s Ghirelli who was fastest in the first session. Both Ercoli and Ghirelli have had many great battles in the past and the 2025 NASCAR GP Italy is destined to write another chapter to remember in the book of their rivalry.
“I’m happy with the job of the team and the partnership between Alumitec Racing and CAAL Racing,” said Ercoli. “They improved the car so much after our tough start to the season in Valencia. Today I tried to adapt better to the new gearbox because the speed differs from the old one as we carry much different speeds throughout the turns. We really improved the performance of the car. Thanks to all my partners and my team for all the support.”
Current PRO championship leader Thomas Krasonis confirmed his speed by setting the third fastest time of the day. The Greek was also the quickest in the Junior Trophy, beating Liam Hezemans who finished his day in fourth. Doubek completed the top-5 ahead of Fabrizio Armetta and Paul Jouffreau. Jouffreau was third in the special classification for young drivers aged 25 and under.
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen was eighth ahead of the top-2 drivers in the Challenger Trophy, Claudio Cappelli and Max Lanza. Davit Kajaia rounded the top-3 positions in the special classification for elite amateurs in PRO in 17th overall. Garrett Lowe faced a tough challenge with plenty of trouble in free practice. on board of his the #99 Chevrolet Camaro, the American made contact with the wall in the first session. The so-called hybrid racer – a mix of a real world and sim racer – was forced to sit out the second session and has a big task ahead of him recovering in Saturday’s qualifying and race.
“We had a good morning practice with Rookie Challenge and had a good first practice going,” said Lowe on what happened. “I was on my in-lap and going through Turn 10, the gearbox went into neutral from fourth. As I downshifted from fourth to third, it got stuck in neutral so I couldn’t stop. Once I got into the gravel, I was along for the ride. We had to take the whole left front off, it was a big setback for the day. We’re going to get it fixed up and figure out what we did wrong.”
OPEN: Same old Martin Doubek in the front
The last time EuroNASCAR visited the Autodromo di Vallelunga, Doubek won both races in the OPEN division. The Czech maintained his speed from the last years, still using the same setup from 2024. The Hendriks Motorsport driver managed to get on top of the two OPEN practice sessions with a best lap time of 1:42.061. Doubek finished ahead of top Italian Cappelli, who was also the fastest in the Legend Trophy for drivers aged 45 and over.
“It was a good day, we were first in both OPEN sessions,” said Doubek who pulls double duty in both championships in 2025. “We performed well on old tires and we didn’t change the setup from last year all day long. Let’s see what happens tomorrow in qualifying because we use different formats in PRO and OPEN and the two-lap one in PRO may be a problem for me. The car is really good and the team did an amazing job, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Krasonis made it a double third across PRO and OPEN, once again making him a prime candidate to win in both divisions. Fellow Thomases Dombrowski and Toffel completed the top-5, with Dombrowski becoming the lead driver in the Master Trophy for aspiring drivers. Melvin de Groot was second in the Legend Trophy and sixth overall ahead of Patrick Schober, who had a smooth run the whole day facing zero obstacles.
The returning Valerio Marzi and Bruno Mulders in eighth and ninth as they beat Mario Ercoli for the top-3 spot in the Master Trophy. The younger Ercoli managed to round out the top-10 ahead of Roberto Benedetti, who was third in the Legend Trophy. The Lady Trophy saw Arianna Casoli utilizing her experience at Vallelunga to beat Happinessa for the class’ top position.
Teams and drivers will learn from all of the data they collected from Friday as it’s going to be important for Saturday’s qualifying and races to make the right setup decisions. PRO Round 3 will go green at 13:55 CEST with OPEN Round 3 following on 16:40 CEST. Make sure to tune in to EuroNASCAR’s official YouTube channel and TV channels around the world if you don’t want to miss out on the action from Italy.
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