Mario Ercoli will be tying Leonardo Colavita’s record as the youngest driver in EuroNASCAR 2 when he makes his debut at Oschersleben with Vict Motorsport next week.
There will be more than one Ercoli in the grid for the NASCAR GP Germany at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Mario Ercoli, younger brother of EuroNASCAR PRO championship leader Gianmarco Ercoli, will be making his first car race with Vict Motorsport’s No. 8 Italicus Camaro in the EuroNASCAR 2 class next week.
The news was officially announced by NASCAR Whelen Euro Series yesterday, who also revealed that Mario will be tying the record for the youngest driver in the EuroNASCAR 2 division.
Mario, who was born on 20 September 2007, is expected to make his first start at the age of 16 years and 3 days – the same age that Leonardo Colavita had when he made his debut at Rijeka in 2021.
According to euronascar.com, Mario is aiming to become a full-time competitor in EuroNASCAR’s junior class for next year. He’d be following the footsteps of his older brother, who had previously competed in EN2 for two years and raced with Dario Caso’s team for three seasons in the top class.
“I will be making my debut at Oschersleben, the first race of my career,” said Mario, who had done a private test with Vict at Umbria, to euronascar.com. “My expectations and goals for this race and the upcoming season are to earn precious experience and try to get some good results.”
“Driving a EuroNASCAR car is such an amazing thing and I’m looking forward to competing against the best NASCAR drivers in Europe in a pure racing style. I’m a young, fair and fast driver who is good at defending positions thanks to my solid race pace”.
It remains to be seen whether Mario will be able to emulate the feats that Gianmarco achieved in EuroNASCAR 2. Gianmarco scored four career victories and clinched the championship title in 2015 with Onofrio Veneziani’s Double T Racing.
The championship title secured him a full-time promotion to EuroNASCAR PRO for the following year. Gianmarco’s sophomore season saw him begin a three-year working deal with Dario Caso following Double T’s merger with Vict to form Racers Motorsport, resulting in a famous first victory at Brands Hatch in 2018.
Gianmarco has since blossomed into one of the best stock car drivers in Europe and currently leads the championship after scoring three wins onboard the No. 54 The Italian Box Chevrolet Camaro. It is perhaps not a surprise that he became Mario’s greatest inspiration as he grew to watch his brother race and achieve major success in EuroNASCAR.
“He’s one of the best drivers in the series,” said Mario of his older brother. “When I was young I watched all the F1 races and I also watched my brother race in real life, so the Pure Racing of EuroNASCAR is pumping through my veins. My idol is Michael Schumacher from Germany, but my inspiration is definitely my brother Gimmy.”
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