Through an interview with AUTOHebdo, Jerome Galpin reveals that he plans to start the 2020 NWES season in September with 5 of the 7 scheduled rounds confirmed to stay in the revised schedule.
In a recent article from French auto racing magazine AUTOHebdo, Jean-Claude Romec conducted an interview with NASCAR Whelen Euro Series President Jerome Galpin regarding the currently postponed 2020 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season. The article reveals that Galpin plans to start the 2020 season in early September, with 5 of the 7 rounds scheduled having already been confirmed to be staying in the revised calendar.
“We worked a lot on it during this period of containment,” said Galpin on the revised 2020 season calendar. “We have been able to secure the dates for five of the seven meetings out of the initial seven. We are still waiting a little for the last two, especially with the United Kingdom where the situation is still uncertain.”
A formal announcement for the 2020 season’s revised calendar will be released on a later date, with Galpin specifically stating that he is waiting until major racing series’ such as F1 and MotoGP made their respective calendar announcements.
“We must also make sure that one of our prestigious competitors, Jacques Villeneuve, is also available according to his F1 obligations with Canal+! But I can already announce that the NASCAR season will resume at the beginning of September,” further said Galpin on the revised calendar.
In the meantime, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will continue to host the EuroNASCAR Esports Series and it has also been announced that the Esports Series will be moving into a bi-weekly schedule after lockdown restrictions are starting to get eased across Europe.
“During the confinement, the races took place every week; now that everyone is going to get back to their activities a little, we’re going to move on to every two weeks. This rhythm should take us through to the middle of the summer, and from then on, the “real” test programs will take over,” said Galpin on the revised Esports Series schedule.
With NASCAR Cup Series resuming their 2020 season this weekend with The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington, Galpin reckons that NASCAR’s early return will provide Euro Series with expertise and feedback that the series will need when it’s Euro Series’ turn to start their season.
“It’s a big advantage [that NASCAR Cup Series has resumed their season] because we’ll benefit from their expertise and feedback when it’s our turn to start again. We’ll get all the feedback on health procedures, what worked and what didn’t work, what needs to be improved, that’s a foundation that we’ll have to build on,” said Galpin on NASCAR’s return to action this weekend.
Initially scheduled to start on April 26 and 27 with the Valencia NASCAR Fest at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, the 2020 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season is postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted the world in an unprecedented manner. Two rounds, Valencia NASCAR Fest and the American Speedfest at Brands Hatch, has already been officially postponed with the rounds at Autodrom Most and Raceway Venray are likely going to be postponed as well.
Should the provisional dates for Vallelunga, Zolder, and Hockenheim are unchanged, this will mean that the 2020 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season can potentially start on September 12-13 with the American Festival of Rome at Vallelunga, initially scheduled to be the fifth round of the year and the first round of the expanded Euro Series Playoffs.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.
[…] European countries implementing bans on mass public events until 1 September and Jerome Galpin’s previous confirmation that the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will start the 2020 season on early September, the confirmation […]