In a Facebook post that he posted yesterday on August 14, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver Alex Sedgwick announced that he is opening a sponsorship opportunity program that would help him fund a seat to race in the 2019 season finale race at Zolder.
Sedgwick, the 20-year old driver from Brighton and the youngest driver in the current Elite 1 field this year, had previously competed in the first three rounds of the season for Braxx Racing, but funding issues meant that he wasn’t able to run for the full season.
“I’m looking for some individuals or companies, each to put in £1,000 in sponsorship for the final NASCAR Whelen Euro Series race of the year at Circuit Zolder, 4-6th October” said Sedgwick in the Facebook post. In the post, he also added that those who signed up for the sponsorship program will be invited to an end of season track day session for free, and Sedgwick himself will provide instructions and hot laps to those who took part in the track day.
“Please get in touch if you would like to find out more! Feel free to share and tag anyone who you think could be interested,” further added Sedgwick.
After the announcement of this sponsorship program, we contacted Sedgwick to ask him several questions on topics such as the sponsorship program, how his season have panned out so far, and can this sponsorship program help him fund a seat for the 2020 season. We’re pleased to announce that Sedgwick has responded to it and we are thankful to Sedgwick for having the time to answer our questions. Here’s the full transcript of our interview with Sedgwick:
Hi Alex! First of all, how do you think your season have gone so far?
Alex: “It hasn’t been the best! We’ve had times that have shown our potential, but it’s been marred by reliability and setup issues. We showed at the season opener in Valencia that we can be a Top 5 car, but in such a competitive series, everything has to be at 100% all the time.“
Where did the idea of this sponsorship program came from?
Alex: “My aim was to try something different, to try to introduce new companies and investors to the world of NASCAR as, especially in the UK, it still needs that push to compete with the more established series. Once you get people to a race, they are sold, it’s just finding incentives to get them there in the first place!”
“How did you made this idea to become a reality?”
Alex: “I came up with a plan that I felt would be pretty attractive to those that are interested in motorsport, whilst also providing them great opportunities to build their business awareness, along with the chance to get on track with me at a later date, a pretty unique opportunity!”
You said in your Facebook post that this sponsorship program is intended for Zolder. Do you have anything in plan for Hockenheim?
Alex: “Unfortunately I won’t be at Hockenheim as a legacy of the announcement earlier in the year. I’m hoping that Braxx have a good return there, it’ll be great to see the team back on track!”
Do you think this sponsorship program can potentially be used as a way to fundraise sponsorship money to compete in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series for the 2020 season?
Alex: “It’s no secret that Motorsport is expensive, even when you’re in a championship that is as commercially attractive as the NWES, you still have a lot of work to do in order to initially find, and then make sure that partners receive a good return on their investment. For sure my hope is that by getting partners to experience the series for a small initial outlay, they will see the value of being involved and hopefully, I’ll be able to pick up some partners for the full 2020 season. RE 2020, we are working hard currently and I’m fairly confident that I’ll be back for the year, stronger than ever and ready to fight for the title!”
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.