Ercoli wins in Euro NASCAR as Davidson takes home podium at American SpeedFest

American SpeedFest 12 brought a pair of NASCAR Euro Series wins for Gianmarco Ercoli, while a large crowd cheered Jack Davidson to a maiden podium at his home event.

Champion in 2023, when he scored a similar double at the series’ annual visit to Brands Hatch, Ercoli had only one podium finish in the opening two weekends of 2025. But the Italian’s Ford Mustang set a blistering pace in two-lap superpole qualifying, 0.421 seconds faster than reigning champion Vittorio Ghirelli’s Chevrolet Camaro. A smaller margin separated the next eight drivers.

Ercoli was never headed in Saturday’s opener as British hero Davidson – a second-tier winner last year – starred. Starting fourth, Davidson hung on around the outside of the Druids hairpin and capitalised on the inside line for Graham Hill Bend to pass both Ghirelli and Liam Hezemans.

It took Ghirelli until almost half-distance to find a way back past the Scot. And when a backmarker separated him from Ercoli under a late caution period it was effectively game over. Davidson lost out at a messy restart but others’ penalties returned his third place.

Best lap times in Saturday’s race set Sunday’s grid, leaving Ercoli and Ghirelli on row two behind Hezemans and Paul Jouffreau. The Frenchman, points leader entering the event, was on his third engine of a trying weekend. He lost out to Ercoli at the start before the action was halted by a heavy accident involving local driver Max Marzorati that caused barrier damage.

After a single-file restart, Hezemans withstood Ercoli’s pressure, with Jouffreau and Ghirelli in tow, for three-quarters of the 38 laps. Even then, only fuel-pump failure denied the Dutchman, who was unavoidably rear-ended by Ercoli before the Italian swept by. “I think in this moment we can change the way of the championship,” reflected Ercoli.

Amid Hezemans’ demise, Ghirelli pounced to snatch second as Jouffreau hesitated. Two podiums were a fine reward for Ghirelli’s PK Carsport crew who had worked all night on Friday to completely rebuild his car after a huge testing accident – following suspension failure – with second-tier Open series driver Thomas Dombrowski at the wheel.

“We had to change every single piece of the car, weld the chassis, cut it, weld it again…” said 2013 Auto GP champion Ghirelli. “Really grateful for PK for their hard work.”

Saturday’s Open series contest descended into chaos as a cloudburst engulfed the circuit during the green-flag laps and halted racing after one tour as power surges disrupted circuit communications. Local man Matthew Ellis swept from fourth to first within half a lap of the resumption and held sway until a trip through the Paddock Hill gravel with five laps remaining. Thomas Toffel, of Yvan Muller’s M Racing team, and Melvin de Groot shot past, with de Groot then demoting Toffel a lap later for his maiden win as Ellis fell to eighth.

Martin Doubek robustly rebuffed fellow double-duty driver Thomas Krasonis to win Sunday’s slightly shortened race after Ellis’s engine blew and left a skating rink atop Paddock Hill.

“Christ, that was hard work,” puffed Tim Davis after winning the popular Ford vs Chevy contest’s opener in his Corvette. Fellow Bowtie marque representative Jake Swann (Camaro) topped qualifying as Davis experimented with taking Druids in third gear, avoiding second’s perilously close positioning to reverse on his 1969 C3’s H-pattern ’box.

Swann’s 1966 machine – dominant interloper in the wet Corvette celebration race two years ago – built an early lead before back-up-to-speed 2024 winner Davis closed in and seized the opportunity to run three-wide past a backmarker on Cooper Straight and snatch a decisive lead.

Swann and Davis shared the Ford vs Chevy spoils

Photo by: Gary Hawkins

Early pacesetter Swann held on in Sunday’s rematch, truncated by Patrick Doyle’s open-top Corvette heavily collecting the spinning Ford Boss Mustang of Chad Donner. Among a field of incredible earth-shaking machinery, the Ford team might have fared better but for Donner’s misfortune. He qualified second, only to be pushed off the grid with a flat battery. Sunday’s charge from the back took him to sixth before the Mustang’s front-right tyre deflated – a cut from debris suspected – as he braked for Paddock.

John Young’s Mustang was left as best Ford, narrowly beaten to third by Ray Barrow’s Camaro on Saturday before exacting revenge a day later.

Michael Saunders took his recently rebuilt ex-Lee Caroline TVR Tuscan – title winner in 2003-04 – to a near half-minute victory in the opening Bernie’s V8s bout before its differential failed as he sought a repeat. Sam Wilson therefore came through from eighth on the partially-reversed grid to snare victory in Rikki Cann’s Aston Martin V8 Vantage, repaired after a collision at Pembrey last month. Matthew Ellis, now aboard dad Martyn’s nippy Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, was homing in as the flag fell having cleared Guy Carter (Tuscan) and Swann, who’d switched to a matching 2019 NASCAR Camaro (ex-Ryan Preece).

After champion Dale Gent won an opening Pickup Trucks race with little green-flag running, David O’Regan triumphed twice. The first boiled down to a four-lap dash after a safety car; Gent overhauled Michael Smith on the penultimate tour, with O’Regan following, before the Irishman worked an opening at Clearways and left Gent tumbling to eighth.

Both Mark Willis (throttle cable) and Allen Cooper (sick engine) hit trouble while leading an attritional finale, while Gent’s dog-eared truck was called in after crossing swords with the Hadfield brothers. This meant O’Regan’s mid-race pass of Jonathan Hadfield ultimately proved decisive.

Delight turned to despair for SpeedFest Silhouettes day-one winner Ray Harris, when a driveshaft failed on his Ginetta G40 on the rolling lap of Sunday’s race. Harris had overcome the early challenge of Colin Smith’s similar car for his victory, and it was Smith who won on Sunday – but only after Reuben Taylor was penalised for an earlier pass under yellow flags.

Six typically close Legends races produced six different winners and a widest victory margin of just 0.107s when Oli Schlup held off Connor Mills in Saturday’s wet final. Mills edged Tyler Read in Sunday’s final, while heat wins went to Read, Chris Needham, Jack Parker and Peter Barrable.

The Legends contests were typically close

Photo by: Gary Hawkins