Our first Race Preview for the EuroNASCAR Finals takes a look at all of the changes in the Entry List for the 2023 season finale round at Zolder.
The 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season will reach its conclusion with this weekend’s EuroNASCAR Finals at Circuit Zolder. This year’s running marked the return of Zolder as the venue for the season finale after Valencia, Vallelunga and Rijeka hosted the Finals in the past three years.
The 4.011 kilometer circuit at Heusden-Zolder has provided fans with fantastic action ever since it was introduced to the calendar in 2015. This year promises to be the same and with the crowning of a new champion on Sunday, there’s more reason to tune in to this year’s Finals.
To welcome Zolder’s return as the host of the EuroNASCAR Finals, a total of 27 teams and 46 drivers across all three divisions will be ready to compete for the grand finale of the dramatic 2023 season.
This EuroNASCAR Finals 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. As always, the upcoming Parts 2 and 3 will be focused on our preview for the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 races.
3F Racing’s return after its impressive debut at Oschersleben has been well documented on the worldwide NASCAR media, but they won’t be the only team that is set to make their return at Zolder.
The French team Uber Modern Racing, which had made their debut at Vallelunga, is also set to compete at Zolder with the No. 75 Chevrolet Camaro. Uber Modern is set to retain their driver pairing of Hugo Fleury and Olivier Bec for the Finals.
The grey No. 9 Italicus machine of Vict Motorsport is also set to make its return after they were absent in Germany. Finally, Academy Motorsport’s two cars are listed to be competing in the two main divisions once more after the Italian team elected to only enter the No. 1 Ford in Club Challenge last month.
On the EuroNASCAR PRO drivers side, 23 drivers are listed to participate for the season finale races in the top class. 24 is listed on the Provisional Entry List, but Max Lanza has already announced his withdrawal because of a sudden family emergency. More on that in this article here.
Outside of Lanza’s absence and Fleury’s return, the only notable change came from Marko Stipp Motorsport’s No. 48 Chevrolet. The German squad had listed Yevgen Sokolovskiy as its driver once more.
The Ukrainian had been listed on the Entry List for Oschersleben before Tuomas Pöntinen signed a deal to race the black-and-red cladded Camaro with about a week before the races in Germany were held.
Néo Lambert, who did not take part at Oschersleben despite being listed in the Entry List, was listed as the driver of SpeedHouse’s No. 40 Ford Mustang in EuroNASCAR PRO.
However, the team’s driver roster announcement from earlier this week did not list the name of the young Frenchman. It remains unknown whether Lambert would race in the Finals or not.
In EuroNASCAR 2, the field is considerably more packed as 25 out of the 27 team entrants have a driver entered for Zolder. A notable name in the junior division’s Entry List is Academy’s co-owner Federico Monti, who is finally set to make his debut in EuroNASCAR 2.
Monti had declared himself as the main driver of the No. 1 Ford Mustang in EuroNASCAR 2 during the pre-season, but he stepped down to allow Max Mason and Stefani Mogorović to race the car instead.
The listing of his name on the Provisional Entry List meant that the co-owner of Academy Motorsport is now ready to make his long awaited debut.
Marko Stipp Motorsport also made a notable change towards their roster in EuroNASCAR 2, albeit it has to do with the No. 46 Chevrolet instead of the sister No. 48 car. American Nick Strickler will be making his return as a replacement driver for Nick Schneider, who suffered an injury during pre-race training.
Bremotion once again will have a new driver to race their No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro. Following the pattern that had been started by Gordon Barnes and Alina Loibnegger earlier this year, the German team will have a returning driver to race in EuroNASCAR 2: Eric de Doncker.
The Belgian is due to make a surprise return after a four year absence. It’s also going to be his first race in a car that isn’t entered by his own team Motorsport 98. Motorsport 98 remains active in other racing categories to this day, but they have sold their EuroNASCAR car after their exit in 2019.
One last minor change came from Vict Motorsport, who will enter Mario Ercoli in the team’s second entry because of Paolo Valeri’s return. Valeri was absent from Oschersleben because he made a wildcard appearance in Mini Challenge Italia’s round at Vallelunga for Scuderia Speed Motor – Vict’s partner organization.
In the regularity-based Club Challenge division, a total of 14 drivers are listed as entrants in the Provisional Entry List. As always, regulars such as standings leader Gordon Barnes and Oschersleben winner Florian Richard will share the track with drivers from the main two divisions.
Championship contenders Anthony Kumpen and Vladimiros Tziortzis are among the drivers that will take advantage of the added track time provided by the extra practice provisions in Club Challenge.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.
Last Updated: 12 October 2023