What happened last year? Part #1We still need to give credit where credit is due. We start with the overall champions. The favorites,
Jakub Smetana and
Carsten Theile lived up to their role.
Carsten secured the Class B title where he finished every race in the top 5. The worst result was the fifth position at Pocono Raceway. What a constancy.
Jakub won Class A and Class C. And in the trucks he was even more dominant than Carsten in Class B. He won eight of the ten races. And finished second in the two other races. Hopefully he is not aiming for a perfect season this year!
Class A was more fought over. #55
Erik van Spijker, with great constancy, was leading for a long period this season. But in the end Jakub was too strong. And with these two titles, Jakub moved up to second place in the Hall of Fame with 9 titles in just three years.
He is hunting Carsten, who is the all-time leader there.
Enough from our dominators. There are two more well-known trophies and a new one: Our Rookies, the Fair Play Award, and the Challenger Trophy.
Let's have a look at our Rookies.
Class C saw a dominant #17
Lachlan Fitchett. Won at Talladega and finished 4 times in the Top 5 in just 9 starts. Overall he finished in the Top 10, at position 6. More to come this year?
He also won the Class B Rookie of the Year Award, but he was just 25 points in front of #31
Selim Akmanlar.
Last but not least, #99
Alex Baeyens won in Class A. The best result was a ninth place at the Kansas Speedway.
2026-1 Preliminary Overview
Class A
Driver Champion: #32 Jakub Smetana
Rookie of the Year: #99 Alex Baeyens
Class B:
Driver Champion: #128 Carsten Theile
Rookie of the Year: #17 Lachlan Fitchett
Class C:
Driver Champion: #32 Jakub Smetana
Rookie of the Year: #17 Lachlan Fitchett
Virtual Oval
Officials
