Our first Race Preview for the NASCAR GP Germany takes a look at all of the changes in the Entry List for the first ever EuroNASCAR round at Oschersleben.
The 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season is about to reach its climax with the final round of the regular season, the NASCAR GP Germany at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, scheduled to be held this weekend.
This year’s NASCAR GP Germany will be the fourth edition of the event and the first since 2019, held at the Hockenheimring circuit in Baden-Wurtemberg. EuroNASCAR’s return to Germany will present a new challenge to drivers and teams as they will venture to the only new track of the season: Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
Built in 1995 and opened in 1997, Oschersleben is one of the biggest motorsport venues in the former East Germany region. With practically no race data available to be used as a reference, it will be a challenge to master the 3.668-kilometer long circuit that was known for its smooth and fast layout.
The passionate German race fans will be treated to the sight and sound of the V8-powered EuroNASCAR stock cars entered by 26 teams, which will have 45 competitors ready to drive them across all three classes based on the data provided by the provisional Entry List.
This NASCAR GP Germany 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 while Parts 2 and 3 will be focused on our preview for the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 races.
Because NASCAR GP Germany is the round where drivers have to drop their two worst results in the regular season, the upcoming Part 4 will highlight the impact that dropped points is going to have in the 2023 championship.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
NASCAR GP Germany will have a new team entering the series in the form of Dennis Hirtz’s 3F Racing. 3F, who aspires to become the first German team to race in the NASCAR Cup Series, will be entering the No. 30 Critical Path Security Chevrolet Camaro for their Head of Driver and Talent Development Ryan Vargas.
The round will also see the return of Kenko Miura’s Team Japan Needs24. Unexpected schedule changes for the Toyota company man had forced Team Japan to miss the previous three rounds, but EuroNASCAR’s only Japanese team is now ready to make headlines once more.
One notable absence is Swiss outfit Racingfuel Motorsport, who sadly will not make it to Oschersleben. The team skipped the previous round at Most to give them more time to repair their cars, but it looks as if the damage sustained by the team’s lead No. 94 Chevrolet was too much to be fixed in time.
Another car that will be absent at Oschersleben is Vict Motorsport’s dark gray No. 9 Italicus Ford Mustang. Dario Caso’s team opted to enter only one car, although they will have one special entrant that we will touch upon later.
In addition, there’s a slight change at Academy Motorsport. They will continue to enter both the No. 1 and No. 5 cars, but the former will be raced exclusively in EuroNASCAR Club Challenge as neither Advait Deodhar, Max Mason, Michaela Dorcikova and Stefani Mogorović will drive the black-and-pink Ford Mustang.
A total of 24 drivers are listed as entrants in EuroNASCAR PRO on the provisional Entry List. The changes are headlined by the aforementioned Ryan Vargas, who created a major sensation by announcing his cross-Atlantic trip on 12 September.
He will be joined in the list of EuroNASCAR PRO entrant changes by Kenko Miura and Thomas Dombrowski, who both will race in both classes once again.
Finally, Yevgen Sokolovskiy is reported to be back behind the wheel of the No. 48 Marko Stipp Motorsport Chevrolet for Oschersleben. Sokolovskiy, who has resided in Germany for nearly two decades, will be getting a chance to race at a “home race” for the first time in his EuroNASCAR career.
For EuroNASCAR 2, there are 22 drivers that are listed to compete according to the Entry List. Neither Mogorović or Alina Loibnegger will be racing at Oschersleben, as does Vict’s regular EN2 duo of Paolo Valeri and Valerio Marzi.
Vict will, however, enter a new driver to the junior class: Mario Ercoli. The younger brother of Gianmarco Ercoli is set to race the No. 8 Italicus Camaro and with Mario being only 16 years and 3 days old on Saturday, he will be tying the record for the youngest driver in EuroNASCAR 2 that Leonardo Colavita – fittingly, a former Vict driver – had achieved in 2021.
Another notable change came at Bremotion, who had an all-German driver line-up for the team’s first ever home race. ADAC GT4 ace Dominique Schaak will be the driver that Bremotion will field at Oschersleben, making him the third different driver to race the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro in EuroNASCAR 2 this year.
The regularity-based EuroNASCAR Club Challenge has 12 drivers listed on the provisional Entry List. As always, regulars such as Gordon Barnes, Alain Mosqueron, Florian Richard and Federico Monti will be joined by drivers from EuroNASCAR PRO who will be entering under the extra practice provisions.
Two-time champion Anthony Kumpen and Team Bleekemolen’s trio of Thomas Dombrowski, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Vittorio Ghirelli, will be doing their second Club Challenge outings to get some extra data that can give them an advantage in EuroNASCAR’s newest venue.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.