World of EuroNASCAR’s second Race Preview for the American SpeedFest 10 takes a look at what we can expect from the main contenders of the EuroNASCAR PRO division 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 43 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 the second of a three-part series, in which we will be focused on the preview for the EuroNASCAR PRO races. Yesterday’s Part 1 was focused on all of the changes listed in the Entry List, while the upcoming Part 3 will be focused on our preview for the EuroNASCAR 2 races.
The American SpeedFest 10 is predicted to be the most unpredictable SpeedFest that we have ever seen. With both of the SpeedFest 9 race winners Alon Day and Alexander Graff not returning to the championship in 2023, the game is on for other drivers to step up and take the thrones that they have left behind.
Leading the field to Brands Hatch is Lucas Lasserre, who currently leads the championship after his unexpected victory at Valencia. The SpeedHouse owner returned to the series after a year of hiatus from driving duties and showcased that he hasn’t lost his edge against the field.
Lasserre had originally planned to compete at just Valencia, but his victory and subsequent championship leader status led the 45-year old Frenchman to reconsider his plans. Expect Lasserre to be at the front of the pack once more as he continues his participation as an owner-driver for the time being.
Martin Doubek will have a reason to go all out at Brands Hatch. The Czech driver secured his maiden podium finish in EuroNASCAR PRO on last year’s edition of the SpeedFest, a culmination of a seven-year long waiting period for the 2021 EuroNASCAR 2 champion.
Valencia started off strongly for Doubek as his runner-up finish on Sunday, combined with the four bonus points for most positions gained, was enough to see him enter the American SpeedFest 10 in second place on the standings. If the cards played out right, we might see Doubek become the first Czech driver to lead the standings in EuroNASCAR’s top division.
Chasing Lasserre and Doubek is the wily old fox himself, the “goose” Marc Goossens. Goossens has had a storied career in Brands Hatch, as a famous victory in the 1991 Formula Ford Festival and three EuroNASCAR podiums made him one of the most potent drivers at the famous circuit in West Kingsdown.
Goossens’ form at Valencia was a step in the right direction for the 53-year old driver, who has had it tough in the last two seasons. Improving on a third-place finish that he achieved in Spain will be the key for the Belgian if he wants to lead the championship with the colorful No. 56 Anecars Camaro.
Anthony Kumpen and Frédéric Gabillon tailed the top-3 closely behind and they had an ace card that they would love to use at Brands Hatch: The “former race winners” card.
Kumpen and Gabillon both had the most wins for an active driver at Brands Hatch with two. Kumpen achieved this in 2016 and 2017, with Gabillon following suit in the next two years. A victory would be crucial towards their title hopes if they want to beat out the rising crop of young talents that had slowly risen in stature in the top division.
On the topic of younger talents, many of EuroNASCAR’s top young drivers experienced setbacks at Valencia that put them on the backfoot. Vladimiros Tziortzis, who can’t secure maximum points at Valencia thanks to a late collision with Vittorio Ghirelli, would love to see his form continue after his impressive debut in the top division.
Gianmarco Ercoli, Ulysse Delsaux, and Giorgio Maggi are locked in a three-way battle for points and all of them would love to move up the ranks after a challenging first round of the season. The same goes for Liam Hezemans, who is under pressure to score strong finishes at Brands Hatch if he wants to have his DNF at Valencia to be dropped later in the season.
Another young driver to keep an eye for at Brands Hatch is Tobias Dauenhauer, who is making his first racing appearance of the 2023 EuroNASCAR season with new team Bremotion.
The German driver hasn’t raced in more than a year, but he has shown a glimpse of what he can do with his podium finish at Valencia last year. The two-time EuroNASCAR 2 runner-up hopes that Brands Hatch wouldn’t be an ‘one and done’ appearance as he aims to make a late challenge for the title in the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro.
No British driver would enter the contest in the top division, but there is a driver in the 25-car field in ENPRO that calls the United Kingdom home. That driver is the Challenger Trophy leader Advait Deodhar, who currently lives in London.
Deodhar has had some notable memories from Brands Hatch. He made his EuroNASCAR competitive debut at the track in 2018 and scored a famous ‘pole-to-win’ in the 2021 race to become NASCAR’s first Indian race winner.
As such, the 33-year old hopes that he’ll be able to write the perfect new chapter for his first Brands Hatch race in the top class. One way to achieve it is by retaining the lead in Challenger Trophy, which have a total of nine drivers eligible for the sub-classification at Brands Hatch.
With Kenko Miura, Dario Caso, Michaela Dorcikova and Simone Laureti not entered, Deodhar will be joined by Fabrizio Armetta, Riccardo Romagnoli, Alina Loibnegger, Thomas Toffel, Stefano Attianese, Max Lanza and the returning Yevgen Sokolovskiy at the SpeedFest.
There is also the late inclusion of Matthew Ellis to the Challenger Trophy contention for American SpeedFest 10. Ellis was originally registered to race in EuroNASCAR 2, but an updated Entry List revealed that the Brit is going to make his debut in the top class this weekend.
In Junior Trophy, Valencia pole sitter Tziortzis leads the standings by just 2 points from Delsaux and Maggi and 6 points from Liam Hezemans. The battle at the top of the sub-classification is expected to be fierce, especially with the return of Tobias Dauenhauer in the No. 99 Camaro.
Thomas Krasonis, Néo Lambert, and Thomas Dombrowski would also participate in the Junior Trophy battle, but they would need mistakes from the leading five drivers if they want to have a shot at the sub-trophy podium at Brands Hatch.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 15 June 2023