
Recent reports from ThreeWide reveals that Henri Tuomaala and Ian Eric Wadén, who shared Memphis Racing’s No. 23 Camaro together in 2019, plans to make a comback to NASCAR Whelen Euro Series this year on different teams, one of which being a scheduled newcomer to EuroNASCAR in 2021.
Finnish drivers Henri Tuomaala and Ian Eric Wadén are planning to make a comeback to NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2021, as reported by German-based site ThreeWide yesterday. ThreeWide’s report reveals that Tuomaala and Wadén, who shared the No. 23 Memphis Racing Camaro together in 2019, plans to be making their return on different teams.

Tuomaala, the 2019 Challenger Trophy winner, is set to be making his comeback with DF1’s No. 23 Camaro. Tuomaala was supposed to make his debut for DF1 last year on a double-duty basis after DF1 purchased Memphis’ No. 23 entry during the off-season, but the pandemic restrictions forced him to delay his debut with the Austrian team while DF1 quietly shut down the operations of the No. 23 team for the rest of the year.
Despite his withdrawal from the 2020 season, Tuomaala continues to represent DF1’s No. 23 team in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series and DF1 is prepared to bring back the No. 23 car to the track in 2021.
Tuomaala’s appearances in the Esports Series suggests that the No. 23 car would feature a blue variant of the livery used in the other DF1 cars. Finnish fast food chain Barot’s is expected to be featured as the primary sponsor of the No. 23 Camaro.

As for Ian Eric Wadén, his return is scheduled to be done with a scheduled series newcomer: Finnish team racinGPalvelu, who plans to field the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro this year as revealed through a recent broadcast from Finnish TV channel AlfaTV.
The racing department of Finnish car maintenance company Autohuolto Pornainen, racinGPalvelu (spelled with a lowercase “r”) has maintained an active presence in both Legends Trophy Finland and the Scandinavian-based V8 Thunder Cars over the last decade. racingGPalvelu played a major hand in allowing Memphis – a rival team of theirs in V8 Thunder Cars – to expand and field the No. 23 car that Tuomaala and Wadén drove in 2019 before they opted to end the partnership ties in the off-season.
While the collaboration entry was eventually sold to DF1, AlfaTV’s broadcast reveals that racinGPalvelu has received their own Chevrolet Camaro chassis that they plan to enter with Wadén on a new entry in 2021. Finnish parking company Tapiola Paikoitus is expected to become the primary sponsor of the No. 44 car on racinGPalvelu’s debut EuroNASCAR season.

ThreeWide’s report also reveals that Wadén, who won the Legend Trophy on his debut season and earned notability as the sole driver wearing a composite open-face helmet designed for rallying in 2019, also planned to compete in 2020 before the pandemic forced him to delay his plans of returning to EuroNASCAR. Wadén would’ve been set to race for Memphis Racing to defend his Legend Trophy honors last year.
It is also revealed that Tuomaala is offering an opportunity for the driver that won the Finnish Legends Cars championship in the Pro and Semipro division to be able to compete in Euro Series for the season finale race at Zolder, with all costs of participation to be paid from Tuomaala’s racing firm Iceboys Racing.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / racinGPalvelu.