Our first Race Preview for the 2024 Valencia NASCAR Fest takes a look at the newly announced drivers that have joined the roster in the Provisional Entry List.
After a lengthy off-season period, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is back in action for the start of the 2024 season. The series heads to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain for the traditional season opening round Valencia NASCAR Fest.
After celebrating the event’s tenth anniversary in 2023, the Valencia NASCAR Fest continues its festivity vibes as the 2024 event is part of the track’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
Plenty of memories have been made in the previous editions and this year is shaping up to be no different, facilitated by the Provisional Entry List that featured a field of 29 cars and 50 drivers across all three divisions.
Just like last year’s Preview articles, the Preview for the 2024 Valencia NASCAR Fest is going to be split into three parts. Part 1 will be focused on the Entry List while a dedicated preview for EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 will be released on Parts 2 and 3 respectively.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
As previously reported, the 2024 season is set to feature 28 full-time entries. All 28 cars, split into 17 teams, will be entered to the opener with the addition of one part-time entry: SpeedHouse Racing’s No. 64 Ford Mustang.
The No. 64 team joins the French team’s full-time No. 14 and No. 33 Ford Mustang’s. ENPRO debutant Alessandro Lebourgeois will lead the effort in the No. 64 team alongside Eric Quintal, a series veteran in EN2 since 2012.
Lebourgeois is one of the five new entrants that has been announced in the 26-car ENPRO grid. Part of the newly confirmed drivers is Lucas Lasserre, who will indeed race the No. 33 Sud-Ouest Remorques Ford Mustang alongside Florian Richard.
Currently Lasserre’s participation is expected to be part-time, but don’t count out on the possibility of him going full-time again if he wins again at Valencia.
Speaking of the French, Double V Racing featured the addition of two-time ENPRO race winner Romain Iannetta. After a year of hiatus to focus on sportscar racing, the 44-year old from Villecresnes is back to race the No. 27 Ford Mustang alongside debutant Simone Giussani.
There’s also two more additions to the grid in EuroNASCAR’s top division. The first came from Race Planet Team Bleekemolen, who listed Reza Sardeha as a competitor with the No. 11 Anyone.com Ford Mustang.
While Sardeha has been announced to compete in both EN2 and Club Challenge, the Iran-born entrepreneur has decided to go all-in and race in all three classes for his first full-time appearance in the series.
The second came from series debutants Lux Motorsport, who has listed Jack Davidson as a double duty competitor onboard the chrome pink No. 21 GT Omega Chevrolet Camaro.
Davidson already has experience racing in ENPRO through his outing at Most last year. The Scotsman finished tenth in the first race and was on the verge of repeating the feat in the second race when he suffered a mechanical failure with just three laps to go.
In EuroNASCAR 2, which had 25 drivers entered for Valencia, two new faces were added to the roster. The first is rally driver Frédéric Perriat, who is scheduled to make his debut in the series as the EN2 teammate of Patrick Lemarié at Academy Motorsport’s No. 1 Ford Mustang.
Perriat will be joined in the new EN2 entrant list by 17-year old Finnish driver Veeti Rajala. Rajala has secured himself a seat at Granducato Speed’s No. 90 Chevrolet after an impressive outing in the November 2023 edition of Drivers Recruitment Program.
EuroNASCAR Club Challenge, the series’ regularity-based division, featured an Entry List of 10 drivers. The seven that had already been announced will be joined by one more championship contender and two interlopers.
Kelvin Hassell from the UK is the division’s newly added championship contender. A participant in Drivers Recruitment Program for the last few years, Hassell will attempt to fight for the victory in Bremotion’s No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro.
PK Carsport’s Vittorio Ghirelli and Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Victor Neumann make up the interloper cast for Valencia. Ghirelli will use CC to further test his new team’s machine, while Neumann enters the class to get more track time ahead of his maiden full-season campaign.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.