Our first Race Preview for the 2024 American Festival of Rome takes a look at the changes in the Provisional Entry List for the event at Vallelunga.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is heading to Italy for the second round of the 2024 season, the American Festival of Rome at Autodromo Vallelunga. Located just north of Rome, Vallelunga is the longest serving Italian track in the EuroNASCAR calendar.
With plenty of memorable moments such as the title deciding dramas in 2021 and the victories of home crowd heroes in 2023, the Vallelunga round has resonated with the hearts of the tifosi and this year is expected to be no different.
A total of 53 drivers from 29 teams are set to enter across all three divisions, ready to give their best shot and make the 2024 American Festival of Rome the most spectacular one in its history.
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Nearly every single entry that entered at Valencia are set to make their return at Vallelunga. One team that will be absent is Team Japan Needs24, who will not make the trip to Italy due to Kenko Miura’s schedule conflicts.
Team Japan’s absence is offset by the return of Vict Motorsport’s second entry. The No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro is back for the team’s home race, featuring Paolo Valeri on his first race as a top class driver and Valerio Marzi’s return to EuroNASCAR 2.
A bumper field of 28 cars is currently listed on the provisional Entry List for the top division EuroNASCAR PRO, headlined by the swap that will take place at Academy Motorsport.
The acquisition of a new primary sponsor in HTFX allowed Vladimiros Tziortzis to take over the No. 1 Ford Mustang for the rest of the season. In return, Patrick Lemarie will now race the No. 5 Ford Mustang that has served as Academy’s flagship car in the last few years.
The Italian round will also see the return of Davide Dallara. Not Only Motorsport’s former stalwart driver and the 2020 Challenger Trophy winner has been signed by Lucas Lasserre to race the No. 64 Ford Mustang for SpeedHouse Racing.
Two new drivers are also expected to make their debuts with Italian teams in Vallelunga. Drivers Recruitment Program alumni Max Marzorati will join Double V Racing while Granducato Speed welcomed ex-Superstars Series driver Mario Buscemi to their roster.
One thing that we should note is the status of Paul Jouffreau. The Frenchman is currently listed on the Entry List, but in a case similar to Kyle Larson, Noah Gragson and Josh Reaume before, the 20-year old is currently being investigated for his racial slur incident towards Indonesian streamer Eliza “Elz” Indriani.
While EuroNASCAR PRO enjoys an uptick in the number of entrants, the same can’t be said for EuroNASCAR 2 because they will only have 23 cars entered at Vallelunga.
Outside of Miura and Marzi, the only other change will come from SpeedHouse. They will not enter their long serving veteran Eric Quintal to the No. 64 Ford Mustang, meaning that Dallara would have free reign to drive the car at his home race.
Just like Valencia, seven drivers will do the double duty in Italy: Championship leader Martin Doubek, Jack Davidson, Thomas Toffel, Thomas Krasonis, Victor Neumann, Nick Strickler, and Thomas Dombrowski.
In the regularity-based EuroNASCAR Club Challenge, the eight championship drivers that took part in Spain will have two additional competitors for the second round of the season.
Yann Schar returns to the series with RDV Competition, sharing the No. 3 Ford Mustang with the currently doubted Jouffreau and Schober.
The division also welcomes Granducato’s test driver Thomas Papa. Papa, who had signed a contract with Granducato from 2023, will make his series debut onboard the Italian team’s No. 90 Chevrolet Camaro.
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Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.