Former EN2 champion Ulysse Delsaux has been confirmed to make his return to NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2021 to make a fight for the title in EuroNASCAR PRO with RDV Competition’s No. 10 team asveteran driver Didier Bec also scheduled to make his return after a two-year hiatus to become Delsaux’s EN2 teammate.
Ulysse Delsaux will fight for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series title in 2021 after it was announced on Saturday that he will contest the full season with RDV Competition’s No. 10 team, confirming the report made by The Checkered Flag on 1 April which reports that Delsaux would rejoin RDV in 2021.
The announcement meant that Delsaux will be back on the Euro Series grid after he, along with RDV and his teammate Frédéric Gabillon, was forced to take a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“First of all, I’m really happy to be back on the real tracks and live the emotions of the championship with the team,” said Delsaux in the official announcement. “Driving is very important to me. To feel part of this family in the lineage of my idols, it transcends me.”
“It’s been a long time I waited for this moment. It was hard to make the decision not to compete last year because of the pandemic, but I continued my physical and mental training to be more motivated than ever and to be at the top of my form.”
Genie Civil Services will continue to sponsor Delsaux for his EuroNASCAR endeavors as he’s scheduled to be racing the No. 10 car for the first time in the top class this year, marking a change from the 36 that he ran with in 2019.
The number change from No. 36 – an inversion of 63, the birth year of his father Emmanuel and the year of Jim Clark’s first F1 title – to No. 10 – to represent his home department Aube – was due to happen last year, but ultimately it was delayed until 2021 due to his and RDV’s decision to withdraw from the season as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
“This year I will also be able to ride with the number 10,” said Delsaux on the decision to use No. 10 on his car. “This number is important for me because it represents the number of my department and I love it. I am proud to represent the department of Aube.”
“More than ever I thank Jean Claude Sauvadon, GCS, for believing in me, for supporting me, our relationship has allowed me to grow and to be the professional pilot that I am, I will do everything this year to be up to the task. I also thank all my other partners for continuing the adventure.”
Having been a part of RDV ever since he made his series debut in 2014 and helped the team to secure both the EuroNASCAR 2 title and the Teams Championship title in 2018, Delsaux hopes that he will be able to give RDV his first race win as a driver in the top class.
“My goal will be to fight to win races and rediscover the irreplaceable atmosphere of the podium and the victory lane and be among the best at the end of the season to open up new horizons,” said Delsaux on his goals for 2021.
“The more I think about all this, the more I want to find my bond with (RDV team owner) Franck Violas, my team manager with whom we have experienced so much since my debut in EuroNASCAR, and Claude Galopin the Team engineer who had perfectly developed the car with which I won the EuroNASCAR 2 title 2018. I also can’t wait to work again with Frédéric Gabillon, my teammate, and all my mechanics.”
Delsaux’s announcement also reveals that Didier Bec will be returning to the series as the EuroNASCAR 2 driver of the No. 10 team in 2021. Didier, a series veteran who also has started all of his Euro Series races with RDV and one of the most experienced drivers in EN2 with 43 starts on his name, will contest the full season after taking a two-year hiatus from the series.
RDV also revealed that Jerome Mure, who took part in the Club Challenge race at Zolder with the team in 2019, will contest the full Club Challenge season in 2021 as the driver of RDV’s No. 3 team.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard / Bart Dehaese.