Robin Bleekemolen makes outstanding EuroNASCAR debut, finishes twice in top-10 and sweeps Lady Trophy at Brands Hatch
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The female racers of the NASCAR Euro Series OPEN division enjoyed another competitive weekend at Brands Hatch, where Dutch teenager Robin Bleekemolen announced herself with an outstanding race debut by finishing twice in the top ten overall and dominating the Lady Trophy.
The female racers of the NASCAR Euro Series OPEN division enjoyed another competitive weekend at Brands Hatch, where Dutch teenager Robin Bleekemolen announced herself with an outstanding race debut by finishing twice in the top ten overall and dominating the Lady Trophy.
Lady Trophy points leader Beitske Visser fought through some technical issues all weekend, while Happinessa and Mariam Davitidze both continued their progression in Europe's NASCAR division by battling for the class podium.
Dutch racer Beitske Visser, reigning Lady Trophy champion Happinessa and rookie Mariam Davitidze had already shown great speed and fighting spirit in the OPEN division through the opening two rounds of the season, each arriving at Brands Hatch with growing momentum. They were joined in Kent by a fourth female competitor, 16-year-old Robin Bleekemolen, who stepped up from karting to make her race debut in EuroNASCAR and immediately became one of the stories of the weekend.
Happinessa entered Brands Hatch in her second NASCAR campaign after claiming the 2025 Lady Trophy title. The German had already demonstrated significant progress since joining leading team Hendriks Motorsport in partnership with Rette Jones Racing, scoring her first Lady Trophy victory of the season at Valencia before adding another encouraging performance at the championship's inaugural visit to Circuit Paul Ricard, where she secured a top-15 finish.
Visser meanwhile arrived as one of the most experienced newcomers on the grid. The former single-seater and endurance racing star joined Bremotion for her NASCAR debut in 2026 and adapted rapidly to the powerful V8 machinery, overcoming technical problems at Valencia to secure her first top-ten result before adding two Lady Trophy victories at Paul Ricard and recording a personal-best sixth-place overall finish.
Davitidze continued her historic rookie campaign as the first Georgian woman ever to compete in NASCAR. Driving for Kolkhi GRT, the 21-year-old had steadily improved throughout her first two events, building confidence and pace while increasingly challenging for top Lady Trophy positions.
The spotlight at Brands Hatch, however, inevitably fell on Robin Bleekemolen. Representing another generation of one of Dutch motorsport's most successful families, the 16-year-old daughter of Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and granddaughter of Michael Bleekemolen had first sampled EuroNASCAR machinery in the Rookie Challenge at just 15 years old. Brands Hatch therefore marked her full race debut after progressing from karting into stock car racing.
Straight from the first practice session, Bleekemolen demonstrated remarkable speed. In FP1 she immediately led all female drivers with a lap of 51.735 seconds. Davitidze was the second-fastest woman with a 52.161-second effort, placing 18th overall despite some setbacks. Happinessa continued building speed with a 52.637-second lap, showing a clear step forward from her rookie season as she ended the session 20th. Visser's weekend started more difficultly, as technical issues left her 22nd in the opening practice.
The impressive performances continued in FP2: Bleekemolen once again topped the female entries, setting a superb 49.953-second lap that placed her 14th overall, little more than one second away from the top of the timesheets. Davitidze also made a significant step forward and finished 15th overall.
Happinessa found over two seconds compared to FP1 and climbed to 18th with a 50.684-second lap, though her session ended prematurely after an unfortunate off at Paddock Hill Bend. Visser continued battling issues and ended the session 19th.
Saturday morning's qualifying session took place in extremely difficult wet conditions.
Davitidze quickly emerged as one of the highlights: early in the session she moved near the top half of the field, while Visser was also competitive in the 58-second range and temporarily occupied 13th place ahead of the Georgian driver.
With five minutes remaining, Davitidze produced an excellent 57.5-second lap that elevated her to 12th overall. Right behind her was Bleekemolen, who posted a 57.6-second effort despite her lack of experience in such challenging conditions.
Happinessa also continued making gains as the session progressed.
Several cars went off at Turn 1 in the closing stages, resulting in a red flag with less than a minute remaining. The interruption prevented further improvements and locked in the final order.
Davitidze secured an outstanding 12th-place starting position, narrowly missing a place in the top-ten Super Pole shootout. Bleekemolen qualified directly behind her in 13th, in an exceptional first qualifying. Visser would start 16th, while Happinessa secured 19th.
Heavy rain continued to fall over Brands Hatch for Saturday's first race, creating extremely difficult conditions on one of the calendar's most challenging circuits.
Davitidze started 12th, Bleekemolen 13th, Visser 16th and Happinessa 19th.
All four women safely negotiated Paddock Hill Bend on the opening lap despite severely limited visibility. Bleekemolen immediately took the lead in the Lady Trophy classification while gaining an overall position. Davitidze dropped slightly to 14th, Visser experienced a difficult getaway and fell to 18th, while Happinessa held position with a clean start.
Bleekemolen rapidly emerged as one of the revelations of the race, as she climbed to 12th and consistently matched front-running pace, lapping in the 57-second range and at times showing speed comparable to the overall top ten.
Behind her, Davitidze fought hard through the midfield during what was effectively her first race in rain conditions. She battled Pohjanharju and Richard, while Visser remained close behind in 18th. Happinessa defended strongly from Francesco Leogrande.
All four women kept their cars on track despite the treacherous conditions that caught out some of the other drivers.
Bleekemolen further improved her pace with a 56.7-second lap, one of the strongest times among the midfield runners. On lap six, Van Laere passed Davitidze, leaving Visser second and Davitidze third among the Female Trophy contenders. Happinessa remained close behind.
The first major incident came on lap seven when Richard hit the barriers, prompting a Full Course Yellow followed by a Safety Car deployment.
At the time of the caution, Bleekemolen was running 12th overall, Davitidze 16th, Visser 18th and Happinessa 19th.
When racing resumed with 16 laps remaining, Bleekemolen immediately gained another position to move into 11th place. Visser also produced a brilliant restart, passing both Davitidze and De Groot to climb to 15th overall and second in the Lady Trophy standings.
The conditions however remained extremely difficult. Race leader Lessard spun at Turn 1 shortly after the restart, highlighting just how slippery the circuit remained.
Happinessa nevertheless was making gains and picked up a position on De Groot to move into 18th and began chasing Leogrande. The Italian then overtook Davitidze, who struggled slightly after the restart.
Visser meanwhile found excellent pace, regularly lapping in the 57.1-second range as she closed rapidly on Van Laere.
Happinessa also found confidence in the conditions, producing her first laps in the 58-second bracket. She closed on Davitidze in the battle for the final Lady Trophy podium position, with both drivers overtaking Leogrande and running 16th and 17th respectively.
Leogrande fought back aggressively; Happinessa defended firmly, and after the Italian dropped a wheel into the gravel at Turn 1 and narrowly avoided a spin, the German remained right behind him.
Visser meanwhile continued applying pressure to Van Laere in an increasingly intense battle.
Another incident involving Leogrande brought out a second Full Course Yellow with six laps remaining after he crashed at Paddock Hill Bend and struck the inside barriers. Happinessa inherited 17th position.
At the front of the female battle, Bleekemolen continued delivering a flawless performance: running 11th, she maintained comfortable gaps both ahead and behind while recording highly competitive lap times.
The race briefly restarted, but Toffel immediately went off at Turn 1, triggering another Full Course Yellow with only one lap remaining. The caution proved enough for Bleekemolen to secure a sensational top-ten finish on her race debut, crossing the line in tenth place overall and claiming her first Lady Trophy victory.
Visser finished 14th and second among the women, while Davitidze secured 15th and Happinessa completed a strong result in 16th. A post-race disqualification for another competitor subsequently promoted all four female drivers by one position, although the result remained provisional due to the appeal from the disqualified team.
Sunday's second race took place in dry but overcast conditions. Bleekemolen lined up 12th, Visser 16th, Davitidze 18th and Happinessa 19th.
Visser made a strong start and immediately gained two positions. Davitidze produced one of the best opening laps in the field, climbing to 15th by the second corner. Happinessa slotted into 20th as the field navigated the opening lap cleanly.
Bleekemolen once again showcased remarkable speed: consistently lapping under 51 seconds, she remained glued to the battle for the top ten and quickly closed on Tziortzis for 11th.
Visser passed Pohjanharju for 14th and settled into the 50-second bracket as she chased Richard.
Davitidze also impressed with a 50.994-second lap, while Happinessa maintained competitive pace around the top 20.
Robin Bleekemolen soon broke into the top ten, continuing her outstanding debut weekend.
Just behind, Visser remained locked in battle with Pohjanharju and briefly lost ground, while Davitidze slipped to 17th after Leogrande moved ahead. Happinessa gained a position on Tziortzis to move into 19th.
Bleekemolen then dipped below the 50-second barrier while defending strongly from Richard. The young Dutch driver looked entirely at home in the NASCAR machinery despite this being only her second race.
Visser found overtaking more difficult during the second half of the race and eventually lost another position when De Groot got through. Further back, Davitidze and Happinessa ran almost identical lap times as they battled for the final Female Trophy podium position.
Unlike Saturday's race, Sunday remained completely green, allowing the field to race uninterrupted to the finish. Bleekemolen completed an extraordinary debut weekend by securing a second consecutive top-ten finish and a second Lady Trophy victory. For a 16-year-old making her first race start after stepping up from karting, it was one of the most impressive debut performances seen in the series in recent years.
Visser brought her Bremotion Chevrolet home in 14th place, while Davitidze made a decisive move on the final lap to pass Leogrande and claim 17th.
Happinessa completed a clean race in 19th position. Although the final result did not fully reflect her progress, the German demonstrated substantial improvement throughout the weekend and delivered two mistake-free races after showing significantly stronger pace than during her rookie campaign.
Following three rounds, Visser remains the leader of the Lady Trophy standings and sits ninth in the overall OPEN championship. Happinessa holds second place among the female drivers and is 13th overall.
The NASCAR Euro Series now heads into its summer break before returning at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic on 29-30 August, where the championship's female contenders will look to continue the momentum built over the first half of the season.
