NASCAR Whelen Euro Series has released the schedule for its new season opening round at Vallelunga, revealing that the series will condense their on-track activities into a single day event for each class.
Earlier today, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series have released the schedule for its upcoming season opening round, the American Festival of Rome at Vallelunga this September. The Vallelunga race, initially scheduled to be the fifth round of 2020 and the first round of the expanded Playoffs, will instead become the season opening round of 2020 due to the postponements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vallelunga’s schedule has revealed that the series will condense all racing activities into a single day event for each class. EuroNASCAR 2 class events will be hosting their on-track activities on Saturday, while the EuroNASCAR PRO class activities will be hosting theirs on Sunday.
As part of the event condensation, each class will only have a single 45-minute long Practice session for Vallelunga instead of the usual two 30-minute long Practice sessions that we see on race weekends. Teams and drivers also must follow the quick start procedure where after the pit lane is opened, the cars will head up to grid where the national anthems and final preparations will be done before the race starts. The drivers must stay inside their car during this procedure.
In addition, should Vallelunga allowed fans to spectate the race this September, they wouldn’t be allowed to be able to meet the drivers as there will be no Grid Walks and Autograph sessions to limit unnecessary interactions for the time being.
Because of Vallelunga’s status as the season opening round, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will also host two separate Open Test day’s on Thursday and Friday to help drivers and teams acclimatize themselves for the 2020 season.
The Thursday Open Test session will be held in a single 6-hour session and is open for everyone to participate. The Friday Open Test sessions, on the other hand, will be scheduled into four sessions split into two for each class. The first session will be held for 2 hours while the second will last for just an hour.
The traditional Photo Shoot session where all participating teams and drivers will line up on the front straight to take a photo together as a commemoration of the season starting will also stay for this year. The Photo Shoot will be held on Friday night after the Open Test sessions are completed.
With the pandemic still becoming a major talking point all across the world, it is highly expected that all of the other rounds of the 2020 season will be following the single day event procedure that Vallelunga will be doing for its season opening round this September.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.