Earlier today, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series announced that the OMV MaxxMotion NASCAR Show at Autodrom Most, initially scheduled to be held on 20-21 June, has been postponed to 14-15 November as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has previously resulted in postponement of the rounds at Valencia and Brands Hatch.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series first visited Autodrom Most last year with the inaugural edition of the OMV MaxxMotion NASCAR Show, the series’ first visit to a former “Iron Curtain” country. The first visit at Most proved to be dramatic, with moments such as Loris Hezemans’ spectacular engine failure that forced the first PRO race to end under yellow and the subsequent miracle work by the Hendriks Motorsport team to fix the No. 50 Ford Mustang in time for Giorgio Maggi to race – and win – the EN2 race hours after providing the key highlights for the week.
With more than 20,000 spectators spectating the inaugural round at Most in 2019, the event was deemed as a success and the promoters signed a three-year contract extension just weeks after the inaugural round at Most was held.
“We are glad that we can please our fans with positive news. Negotiations with the promoter about a replacement date went very smoothly. In our mutual interest not to disappoint teams, drivers and especially motorsport fans, we reached an agreement easily. We believe that even November conditions will not spoil the excitement of a very attractive NASCAR Whelen Euro Series on and off-track action,” said Josef Zajicek, chairman of Autodrom Most to euronascar.com.
“We worked really hard in these past months to monitor the situation and to try to select the best options for all NWES fans and stakeholders,” said NWES President Jerome Galpin to euronascar.com “We are fortunate to have great circuit partners and can’t wait to go back racing. Hopefully the situation will get better and better to allow us to stand fabulous events for our fans!”
The announcement also revealed that the round at Raceway Venray has also been postponed, while the round at Valencia – initially postponed until 31 October and 1 November – has been confirmed to have another rescheduling following confirmation from the series that further updates for the races at Brands Hatch, Valencia, and Venray will be provided at another date.
In addition, it is also revealed that the scheduled rounds at Vallelunga (12-13 September), Zolder (3-4 October), and Hockenheim (17-18 October) will kept their original dates and thus are unaffected by any postponements.
With several 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 that Vallelunga has kept its original date suggests that Vallelunga will play host to the first round on the 2020 season later this year.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.