Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Melvin de Groot will continue to lead Team Bleekemolen’s EuroNASCAR team following the confirmation of their participation in the 2023 season.
Team Bleekemolen has announced the team’s first confirmed driver and team roster with the reveal that Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Melvin de Groot will be staying in the No. 69 Ford Mustang team for the upcoming 2023 season.
The news was announced just a day after Sebastiaan and de Groot’s participation in V8 Oval Series’ season opening round at Raceway Venray as preparation for the team’s first pre-season test session in Oschersleben.
Held on Easter Monday, Sebastiaan was classified fifth overall while de Groot experienced his first race outing in an oval circuit.
Sebastiaan and de Groot are planning to continue to build up on what they have achieved last year. The duo was one of the most formidable pairings on the grid in 2022, as proved by their success to guide the No. 69 team to a fourth-place finish in the Team’s Championship last year.
Sebastiaan spearheaded the team’s path to success after he scored his first career victory in the first race at Autodrom Most to give his family-owned team their first visit to the Victory Lane.
The 44-year old driver, who had unofficially confirmed his plans to continue racing in EuroNASCAR back in January, is aiming to bring home more podium finishes for the upcoming season.
“Last year we won and improved from race to race,” said Sebastiaan to euronascar.com. “The cooperation between our engineer Wolfram Lethert, my teammate Melvin de Groot and myself proved to be a strong combination.”
“Our goal is to score more podium finishes in the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season and we think it’s possible for us to fight for the top spots. I’m really looking forward to the start of the season at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain.”
De Groot’s confirmation as Sebastiaan’s teammate in the No. 69 team meant that the 45-year old is set to defend the Legend Trophy sub-classification title that he achieved last year.
First making his series debut in 2021 as the replacement driver for the injured Michael Bleekemolen, de Groot enjoyed a spectacular season during his first season as a full-time EuroNASCAR 2 competitor in 2022.
De Groot was a consistent top-10 finisher, finishing inside the top-5 five times and in the top-10 eight times with a best finish of third in the first race at Circuit Zolder.
The on-track success, coupled with a 100% finishing rate, allowed de Groot to finish seventh overall in the standings. He finished comfortably ahead of his closest Legend Trophy rival Roberto Benedetti, who was 83 points behind the Dutchman in the final standings.
“My goal is definitely to win the Legend Trophy again and get some overall podiums in the EuroNASCAR 2 championship,” said de Groot, who runs the paper recycling company VG Recycling Groep in the weekdays.
“It’s the sound, the old school cars, the close racing and the speed that gets my heart racing when I’m on the track with the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.”
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