Marko Stipp Motorsport has recently announced that Gordon Barnes, who competed with the team in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series earlier this year, will be joining the team for a full-time campaign in the EuroNASCAR Club Challenge class.
Yesterday, it was officially announced that Marko Stipp Motorsport will be fielding a team in the regularity based EuroNASCAR Club Challenge class with British driver Gordon Barnes for the upcoming 2020 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season.
Barnes had previously tested the EuroNASCAR cars on the 2020 edition of the Drivers Recruitment Program before he joined MSM to compete in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series with the No. 246 team. Barnes impressed in the Esports Series, as he successfully earned himself a spot in the Main Event for all 7 races and helped secured the No. 46 MSM entry enough points to secure a Top 20 finish in Esports Series’ Teams Standings.
“It’ll be good to make the debut with Marko Stipp Motorsport in the real world. We had our debut in the virtual world during the Esports Series so carrying that over into the real gives us some consistency and allows us to build on that relationship. We gained some useful points in the team championship already this year”, said Barnes to euronascar.com.
“The goal, of course, is to have fun, enjoy myself and try to win the Club Challenge. Longer term, it’s to look to use this as a stepping stone into the full series. Other drivers have succeeded doing this, and hopefully I can follow in their tracks.”
MSM team owner Marko Stipp is equally delighted at the prospect of Barnes joining the team for the real 2020 season.
“Gordon has proven to be a fast and reliable driver in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series for us. He has proven the same in the real world when he made the switch to oval racing in recent years. Therefore, it is great to have him on board and I believe that he is more than capable to fight for the Club Challenge championship with us,” said Stipp to euronascar.com.
The announcement meant that Barnes became the third driver – after Alain Mosqueron and Igor Romanov – to confirm their entries in the Club Challenge class for this year.
The Club Challenge class competitors will have to wait a little longer to start their 2020 season, as they will be starting their season at the second round of the season at Zolder. The tracks featured in Club Challenge this year has been unchanged from the original plans, but the season’s revised calendar meant that the ordering has changed with Zolder now set to start the 2020 Club Challenge season followed by Hockenheim, Most, and Valencia.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.