Martin Doubek takes the checkered flag Saturday at Circuit Zolder. (Stephane Azemard Photo)
Martin Doubek takes the checkered flag Saturday at Circuit Zolder. (Stephane Azemard Photo)

Doubek Breaks Through At Circuit Zolder

HEUSDEN-ZOLDER, Belgium – Martin Doubek made his dream a reality by earning his first EuroNASCAR 2 victory on Saturday at Circuit Zolder.

The Hendriks Motorsport driver mastered a drying track and crossed the finish line ahead of Alessandro Brigatti by more than 10 seconds after starting from the pole.

The race was started behind the safety car at the 4 kilometer track in Belgium. Doubek immediately pulled away from his competitors to open a big gap. Afterwards he perfectly managed the tires and adapted to the drying track to bring home his maiden win in the EuroNASCAR 2 division since first joining in 2015.

“Finally! I’m so happy to be in victory lane here at Circuit Zolder,” said 25-year-old Doubek. “It was also my first time starting from pole position and it’s even more remarkable as it was in wet conditions. I’m really happy to grab my first victory here. Tomorrow we will have to see what the conditions are, but I will start again from the pole, so I hope to make it two wins in a row.”

The battle for second place was an exciting one. Brigatti had an intense duel with Nicholas Risitano and overtook his fellow Italian countryman on lap 10. Coming from sixth on the grid, the Feed Vict Racing driver then pulled away and crossed the finish line in second to grab his third consecutive podium. Risitano then struggled with his overheating rain tires while the track was drying, but finished third.

Guillaume Dumarey was fourth at his hometrack, where he won in 2018. American Julia Landauer finished fifth, earning the Rookie Trophy and the Lady Trophy.

Evgeny Sokolovsky won the Legend Trophy for Marko Stipp Motorsport by crossing the line in 13th.