YouTube sensation Alberto Naska will return for another season in the EuroNASCAR 2 division, albeit in a new ride as he will join forces with Gianmarco Ercoli in the No. 54 CAAL Racing team for the 2023 season.
YouTube content creator Alberto Fontana, better known as Alberto Naska, is back for another season in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The news was announced on 24 March, which confirmed the Italian’s return to CAAL Racing for another full-season in the EuroNASCAR 2 division.
What’s different for this year is that Naska will be switching his car number within CAAL’s three-car team. Naska, who raced the No. 88 Chevrolet last year, will now race the No. 54 Chevrolet instead.
The number 54 itself holds a significant meaning for the Turin-born driver, as it is the number that Naska chose as his signature number throughout his racing career.
Naska’s move to the No. 54 team meant that he will become the new teammate of EuroNASCAR PRO star Gianmarco Ercoli, who announced his return to the series just a day before.
The status of reigning Lady Trophy champion Luli del Castello, who was Ercoli’s EuroNASCAR 2 teammate in 2022, for the upcoming 2023 season is currently unknown.
Naska, who started his career in two wheels before he switched to four in 2021, made his EuroNASCAR debut campaign last year after a season in Legends Car Italia to familiarize himself with the concept of stock car racing.
He was immediately on the pace with the top drivers in EuroNASCAR 2, as showcased by his capability to seriously challenge pre-season favorite Vladimiros Tziortzis.
He would finish second in both Valencia races, but was promoted to first in the second race after Tziortzis was penalized for a technical infringement discovered on Tziortzis’ No. 5 FJ during post-race inspection.
A race later, Naska got to experience his first proper race victory after he beat Tziortzis in an overtime finish at Brands Hatch. Naska would then score three more wins in the next five races to further exclaim his status as one of the drivers’ to beat in 2022.
He was almost untouchable for most of the season, so much so that Naska built enough lead in the standings to guarantee his position as the championship leader entering the final round at Rijeka regardless of what happened at Circuit Zolder – the last round of the regular season.
Unfortunately, Zolder was the round that unraveled Naska’s title hopes. A gearbox failure in the Saturday race put him on the back of the grid for the Sunday race, costing him the chance to gain precious points.
At Rijeka, he simply had nothing to answer Liam Hezemans’ pace, who ultimately clinched the title after Naska and Liam entered the final race with just one point separating them.
Given the heartbreaking end of his maiden EN2 campaign, Naska only had one goal that he wanted to achieve in 2023: Win the EuroNASCAR 2 title.
“My expectation for the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is to win races and the EuroNASCAR 2 title,” said Naska to euronascar.com.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.