PRESS RELEASE
The podium mirrored the opening round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo
A total of 9 drivers entered the Club Challenge round at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic on Friday. After his maiden win at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Gordon Barnes again scored the most points across the two 30-minute timed sessions. The Marko Stipp Motorsport driver was the most consistent one in the regularity based Club Challenge.
On a damp track, Barnes chose a 2:18.000 reference time and came very close to it: On his best lap he missed his target by only 0.010 seconds. That put him ahead of Paul Jouffreau, who however topped the standings in the first session with a 0.003 time penalty. The young Frenchman was not as consistent as Barnes in the second timed session in which he finished fourth.
“It feels very good”, said Barnes. “It was my first visit to the track and we were not sure how it would go in those difficult conditions, but being at the top at the end is just awesome – just a brilliant feeling. It was pretty close and this shows how competitive the Club Challenge is this year. I’m really looking forward to Grobnik because it is such a nice track. It has a nice flow that matches perfectly with the cars. It’s just a very characterful track. We built some momentum with the last two results and we just want to continue like that.”
While Speedhouse’s Jouffreau ended up second for a second consecutive time, Nicolo Gabossi from Italy clinched his second podium of the 2021 Club Challenge season. The Not Only Motorsport rookie was second in the second session and therefore completed the podium. Former Club Challenge Champion Andreas Kuchelbacher made his comeback with Marko Stipp Motorsport and ended up fourth ahead of Federico Monti, who rounded out the top-5 at the wheel of his Academy Motorsport / Alex Caffi Motorsport EuroNASCAR FJ.
RDV Competition’s Jerome Mure followed in sixth ahead of Speedhouse / 42 Racing driver Marcel Berndt from Germany. Not Only Motorsport’s Simona Lenci bested Club Challenge newcomer Leonardo Colavita in eighth. With another win, Barnes increased his championship lead over Jouffreau and Gabossi. The championship battle is on with three rounds left in the 2021 season at Grobnik, Zolder and Vallelunga.
While the Club Challenge drivers did their job for the NASCAR GP Czech Republic, the EuroNASCAR PRO and 2 drivers will have 2 free practice sessions each on Friday. Qualifying and all races on Saturday and Sunday will be broadcasted live on EuroNASCAR’s social media platforms – YouTube, NWES App, Facebook, Twitch – and Motorsport.tv.
