Young Spanish karting star Jose Antonio Peñalta is joining SpeedHouse Racing to contest the 2025 EuroNASCAR Rookie Challenge season.
SpeedHouse Racing is continuing their efforts to find the next Spanish EuroNASCAR star in 2025. This was realized after the French team announced the signing of karting talent Jose Antonio Peñalta on 22 December 2024.
The 17-year old Spaniard is the new teammate for Andreas Kuchelbacher in the third division Rookie Challenge. He’s also the third driver to be confirmed at SpeedHouse, joining Kuchelbacher and Matthias Hauer.
“I’m very happy to join SpeedHouse and Lucas Lasserre in the 2025 NASCAR Euro Series,” said Peñalta in the official announcement.
“It’s the next step in building my professional racing career. I started in motorsports quite late compared to my competitors. I was 13 years old, but with the right support I was able to win races very soon.”
“This will be my first NASCAR season and it’s the right decision because NASCAR is one of the most important brands in motorsports. I also enjoyed testing with SpeedHouse and loved the atmosphere in the team.”
Peñalta, full name Jose Antonio Peñalta Yagüe, is following the footsteps of Dani Briz. Briz joined SpeedHouse’s Rookie Challenge squad for the 2024 season as a graduate of SpeedHouse’s Winter Camp program.
Both Briz and Peñalta have met each other through Circuit Ricardo Tormo’s karting academy. Briz recommended Peñalta to try out EuroNASCAR, leading to Peñalta’s participation in the SpeedHouse Winter Camp.
“I’m very happy to confirm Jose Antonio Peñalta,” said SpeedHouse’s team boss Lasserre. “He is a 17-year-old from Valencia, Spain, and he will be competing in the 2025 Rookie Challenge season.”
“Jose Antonio took part in our Winter Camp Driver Recruitment Test last November and was successful. He tested the car at the Circuits de Vendee at Fontenay and I was impressed by his skills.”
While Peñalta is expected to replace Briz in the Rookie Challenge squad, Briz himself is expected to step up to EuroNASCAR OPEN. Briz had teased a possible move to EuroNASCAR OPEN on social media.
If Briz does get promoted to EuroNASCAR OPEN, then it’ll continue SpeedHouse’s successful track record of promoting their Rookie Challenge drivers to the big leagues.
Previous SpeedHouse Rookie Challenge graduates Paul Jouffreau, Néo Lambert and Florian Richard all found their way to EuroNASCAR’s two main classes after their stint in the regularity-based division.
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