Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Melvin de Groot took part in V8 Oval Series’ season-opening round at Raceway Venray whilst en route for Team Bleekemolen’s first scheduled pre-season testing session at Oschersleben.
World of EuroNASCAR learned recently that Team Bleekemolen’s EuroNASCAR pairing of Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Melvin de Groot has participated in Raceway Venray’s V8 Oval Series for its season opening round on Easter Monday.
Willem J. Staat from Autosport.nl reports that Sebastiaan and de Groot’s cameo were done to prepare themselves for Team Bleekemolen’s first pre-season testing session, which the team plans to do at EuroNASCAR’s newest venue – Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
“Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Melvin de Groot made a pit stop at Raceway Venray on Easter Monday,” reports Willem J. Staat. “They competed in the opening race on their way to Oschersleben. A nice warm-up for the season.”
Sebastiaan and de Groot weren’t the only drivers that made a cameo appearance on V8 Oval Series as the organizers have also invited three drivers from the United Kingdom to participate in the event: Marcus Bicknell, Lee “Tractorboy” Maddox, and Kevin Borland. They would make up the 17-car grid that Leadlap reported as entrants for the Easter Monday round.
For Sebastiaan, his outing with the No. 38 Chevrolet Camaro marked his first outing on an oval since 2019’s American Car Fest at Venray. The 2019 race was one of the thirteen races that the 44-year old raced in his debut EuroNASCAR season.
Sebastiaan would be classified fifth overall in a race weekend that saw Ralph Verberkt take the overall victory after he scored two wins out of the three races that were scheduled that day.
Sebastiaan finished fifth, seventh, and sixth in the three Easter Monday races, a solid improvement from the 14th place finish he achieved in EuroNASCAR four years ago.
As for Melvin de Groot, his participation at Venray was his first outing in an oval circuit. The reigning champion of the Legend Trophy sub-classification finished ninth, eleventh, and ninth in the No. 9 Chevrolet SS. He would later tell Autosport.nl on how difficult it is to get used to the racing style seen in the ovals.
“It took some time to get used to, but in the last race I learned all the necessary tricks,” said de Groot to Autosport.nl. “I noticed that the competitors just let the car roll in the corners. You have to get used to that. I did enjoy it, but this is a totally different form of racing.”
Sebastiaan has unofficially confirmed his plans to compete in the 2023 EuroNASCAR season in January, as we have reported before. De Groot, on the other hand, has yet to announce his plans for 2023 despite being scheduled for participation in Team Bleekemolen’s pre-season testing.
The pairing was a formidable duo in 2022 as they finished sixth and seventh in their respective Drivers Championship and carried Team Bleekemolen to a fourth-place finish in the Teams Championship, only losing third to PK Carsport via tiebreaker.
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