World of EuroNASCAR’s first Race Preview for the American SpeedFest 10 takes a look at all of the changes in the teams and drivers that are scheduled to take part at Brands Hatch.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series goes to the United Kingdom this week for the second round of the 2023 season, the American SpeedFest 10, Powered by Lucas Oil at the Indy Circuit of West Kingsdown’s Brands Hatch.
The round at Brands Hatch has been featured in all but one season of EuroNASCAR and has proved itself to be the most popular round in the series history. With more than 40,000 fans visiting the previous edition of the SpeedFest, Brands Hatch certainly deserves the honor of being called as the series’ “Crown Jewel” round.
A total of 25 cars and 44 drivers across the two main divisions will be present at the American SpeedFest as the round hosts its special tenth anniversary edition that features the arrival of NASCAR’s Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Le Mans racer.
This SpeedFest Preview article is going to be the first of a three-part article, with Part 1 focusing on all of the changes listed in the Entry List. The upcoming Parts 2 and 3 will be focused on our preview for the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 races.
Three teams that took part in the Valencia NASCAR Fest at Circuit Ricardo Tormo will not make the trip to the United Kingdom for Round 2 of the 2023 season. The first of which is Vict Motorsport, who will be skipping the round at Brands Hatch for the second time in the past three years.
A surprising twist comes from the two new entities that made their scheduled full season debuts at Valencia: Team Japan Needs24 and Bulgarian Team. The Japanese and Bulgarian teams would not be present this weekend, meaning that their efforts for 2023 will be focused on a part-time effort.
Additionally, RDV’s No. 4 entry that Yann Schar used for his first Club Challenge outing since 2017 would not cross the English Channel. One team that would do so, however, is the only new team that didn’t make their debut in Valencia: Bremotion.
The German team led by Patrick Brenndörfer was forced to miss the season opening round due to late delivery of parts for their No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro. With work on the No. 99 car now complete, the team is ready to make their debut in both divisions this weekend.
Driving Bremotion’s No. 99 car in the top class is Tobias Dauenhauer, who will be making his return to EuroNASCAR PRO after more than a year. Joining Dauenhauer for a return at Brands Hatch is the fan-favorite Yevgen Sokolovskiy, who will be back in his trusty No. 48 Marko Stipp Motorsport machine.
Dauenhauer and Sokolovskiy are the only two changes made for the 25-driver strong field in EuroNASCAR PRO, as all 23 other entries retained the drivers that they have at Valencia. This includes championship leader Lucas Lasserre, who scored a shock victory in what was intended to be an one-off return to the No. 64 SpeedHouse Ford Mustang.
More changes are made in the EuroNASCAR 2 grid with six out of the 24 entries opting for a mix-up on their roster. The changes were headlined by the arrival of home hero and reigning Club Challenge champion Gordon Barnes, who is set to make his debut in EN2 with Bremotion.
Barnes and MSM’s Jack Davidson will not be the only Britons to compete at the SpeedFest. A third British driver will be competing in the form of Matthew Ellis, who has successfully secured a return to Racingfuel Motorsport’s No. 58 Chevrolet Camaro for this weekend.
With Ellis racing the No. 58 Camaro, the team’s regular driver Max Mason has secured a one-off ride at Academy Motorsport. He will be joining the London-based India driver Advait Deodhar, who will be set to make his first outing as a top class EuroNASCAR driver at his home race in the No. 1 Ford Mustang.
Interestingly, this will be the second year in a row where Academy received the temporary services of a driver from another team at Brands Hatch: SpeedHouse’s Arianna Casoli borrowed a seat at Academy last year after her usual No. 14 car was put out of commission for the Sunday race.
Victor Neumann, the winner of 2023’s first Club Challenge round at Valencia, will also step up to EN2 after he secured a ride at The Club Motorsport. Notably, he is scheduled to be The Club’s first non-Italian driver – Fabrizio Armetta’s team had exclusively fielded Italian drivers up to this point.
Melvin de Groot returns to the No. 69 Team Bleekemolen Ford Mustang after he missed his scheduled appearance at Valencia while a new driver will be racing SpeedHouse’s No. 64 Ford in EN2.
That driver is Italian Igor Sicuro, who will be making his first appearance in EuroNASCAR across all divisions at the SpeedFest. Sicuro, the sim racer who turned pro through Smart e-cup and Italian Mitjet Series, had tested SpeedHouse’s EuroNASCAR machines at Fontenay in 2022.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 15 June 2023