Melvin De Groot weathered a storm of challenges to claim a fantastic victory in the first NASCAR Euro Series Open race of the American SpeedFest 12 powered by Lucas Oil weekend at Brands Hatch.
After a delayed start due to rain, it was initially British driver Matthew Ellis who made a storming start, sweeping into an early lead, while Thomas Toffel also started strongly to move into second. There was drama straight away further back as Open Championship leader Thomas Krasonis pulled into the pits to retire early on in the proceedings.
Ellis showed fantastic pace to pull away from Toffel, before lapped traffic began to cause the lead gap to dwindle down, with Martin Doubek’s Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang also applying pressure on the top two.
However, Ellis’s grip on the race would fall away as he went wide at Paddock Hill in the wet conditions and lost the lead to Toffel with De Groot also making his way past. Ellis’s race would not improve as he spun just half a lap later at Clearways, dropping out of contention for the win.
De Groot, meanwhile, was showing great confidence in the tough conditions, as he made an opportunistic move all the way around the outside of Toffel at Druids hairpin, taking a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish.
The Dutch driver would extend his lead to nearly four seconds as he crossed the line to win, followed by Toffel and Doubek completing the podium. Bruno Mulders came home in fourth, with Thomas Dombrowski in fifth.
Sandro Tavartkiladze finished in sixth, while Patrick Schober crossed the line in seventh. Eighth was Matthew Ellis, with Jordan O’Brien in ninth and Florian Richard rounding out the top-10.
NASCAR Euro Series Open, Brands Hatch, Race 1
- Melvin de Groot, Team Bleekemolen, Toyota Camry, 25 laps
- Thomas Toffel, M Racing, Chevrolet Camaro, +2.725s
- Martin Doubek, Hendriks Motorsport, Ford Mustang, +8.123s
- Bruno Mulders, Team Bleekemolen, Toyota Camry, +8.232s
- Thomas Dombrowski, PK Carsport, Chevrolet Camaro, +14.625s
- Sandro Tavartkiladze, Team Georgia by ADV, Chevrolet Camaro, +17.013s
- Patrick Schober, ADV Competition, Ford Mustang, +18.211s
- Matthew Ellis, Lux Motorsport, Chevrolet Camaro, +21.767s
- Jordan O’Brien, Club Competition, Chevrolet Camaro, +45.578s
- Florian Richard, Speedhouse, Ford Mustang, + 1 lap
For full results, please click here.
Photo: Bart Dehaese