EuroNASCAR reporter André Wiegold will make his oval racing debut at Midland Circuit in Lelystad on 8 September as a rookie competitor in the Formula Toyota class.
Renowned EuroNASCAR reporter André Wiegold will be trading his reporting equipment for a set of racing overalls as he is set to make his oval racing debut at the Midland Circuit in Lelystad, Netherlands on 8 September.
It will be a dream come true for Wiegold, who had long dreamed to compete in an oval circuit ever since he was introduced to one when he was three years old.
“I can’t believe it yet, I’m going to make my autospeedway debut,” said Wiegold through his publication Leadlap on 27 August.
“After fulfilling my lifelong dream of seeing NASCAR live at Daytona in 2018 and 2020, I now have number two on my bucket list: I’m going to drive an official car race on an oval.”
“I was three years old when I was in Baarlo for the first time in 1993, and since then I have visited many racetracks in the Netherlands, including the Midland Circuit at Lelystad near Amsterdam. In Lelystad I will now make my autospeedway debut and become a racing driver myself.”
Credits: Leadlap.de
Wiegold will be competing in the Formula Toyota class, although he wouldn’t drive a former TOM’s Formula Toyota chassis. Rather, he will be racing a Mygale FB02 single-seater race car that was used as part of the now-defunct Formula BMW feeder series.
Wiegold’s entry will be fielded by Bachor Racingteam, a renowned German team that has a long history with the European oval racing scene.
Bachor also has a long history with hosting EuroNASCAR drivers to help them prepare for oval racing, as seen when they fielded Melvin de Groot, Thomas Krasonis and Victor Neumann in the past two seasons of V8 Oval Series.
“As a child, I always loved one class: Formula Toyota,” said Wiegold on the Formula class. “It reminded me of the IndyCar series in miniature, and I always enjoyed watching the races. This is exactly the class in which I am now allowed to drive my first races.”
“Not in a Formula Toyota, though, but in a genuine Formula BMW – in Leadlap.de’s tenth anniversary year of all things. The car belongs to the Bachor Racing Team and has already been driven by Philipp Bachor.”
“What I will have under my butt is quite something: the car is powered by a four-cylinder BMW engine with 140 hp and a weight of 455 kilograms, so my 70 kilos will be added to that.”
There are three races that Wiegold will be competing on 8 September, all on the shorter quarter-mile oval. The races will feature an inverse grid system, so Wiegold expects a hard challenge during the event.
“I have a tight program on Sunday, 8 September,” added Wiegold on the event structure. “After the free practice session in the morning, I’ll be competing in a total of three races. I’ll be racing on the 400-meter-long Autospeedway oval.”
“I’ll certainly work up a sweat there: At the Autospeedway, it’s usual for the best drivers to start from the back. But as a rookie, I’ll be behind the best drivers on the grid [which means I’ll start ahead of them].”
As this is Wiegold’s first oval racing appearance, he simply wants to finish the races and not disturb any of the championship contenders.
Given that he’s a reporter by trade, Wiegold promises to give the readers and fans exclusive coverage on his oval racing debut through Leadlap.
“My goals are very simple: to finish and not wreck,” said Wiegold on his goals. “Of course, I don’t want to get in the way of any fast drivers who are fighting for the championship. I just want to see the green flag and then the checkered flag three times.”
“As I drive in Formula BMW, I have to shift in order to be fast. With the sequential gearbox, it’s quite comfortable to change between second and third gear.”
“I plan to take you with me on this journey and record the whole thing with photos, texts and videos. I hope that you will join me on this adventure.”
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.