Ulysse Delsaux and Gordon Barnes are set to race for Fabrizio Armetta’s Club Competition outfit in this week’s American SpeedFest 12.
Club Competition is set to welcome two new drivers for the American SpeedFest 12. Ulysse Delsaux and Gordon Barnes will join forces to race the No. 22 Chevrolet Camaro during EuroNASCAR’s annual visit to Brands Hatch.
Delsaux will be competing in EuroNASCAR PRO, while Barnes makes his first on-track appearance in 2025 in EuroNASCAR OPEN.
Their Club appearance comes as part of a late development that led to both arriving at the same destination. For Delsaux, his path started in the previous round at Vallelunga.
Delsaux’s SpeedHouse teammate Arianna Casoli was involved in a big crash at the start of the first EuroNASCAR OPEN race. The crash destroyed Delsaux’s No. 14 Ford Mustang and the rebuilding process will only be complete after the summer break.
This left Delsaux with no rides initially for Brands Hatch. However, SpeedHouse team boss Lucas Lasserre worked a deal with Club’s owner-driver Fabrizio Armetta to have Delsaux be featured in the No. 22 so that the Frenchman can maintain his championship hopes.
“I’m happy to race this weekend,” said Delsaux to World of EuroNASCAR. “Thank you to Club Motorsport and Fabrizio Armetta for allowing me to participate in this round. I will give my best to score the most points and return to the top of the table.”
“I especially wish Arianna to recover well and come back stronger for the race to Most in the Czech Republic. The number 14 will return stronger than ever!”
Barnes’ return to the series was not something that he had envisioned before the start of the 2025 season. The British driver underwent surgery during the off-season and missed the season opener at Valencia. Eventually, the 51-year old decided to sit out the season to allow room for a full recovery.
“The NASCAR Euro Series series kicks off this weekend in Spain. However, I won’t be there,” said Barnes at the time.
“I’ve been present at the season opener for the last 5 years, but I’ll miss this year as I’m still not yet back to full health after my operation.”
Barnes was expecting himself to only be watching EuroNASCAR from the sidelines in 2025. However, Barnes received a late offer to race at the American SpeedFest for Club Competition.
It was an opportunity that Barnes took up immediately. Barnes acknowledges that he’ll be struggling from a lack of track time, but he is hopeful that the expertise of two veteran drivers in Delsaux and Armetta will help to speed up his familiarization process.
“This return wasn’t planned,” said Barnes to World of EuroNASCAR. “I had a late offer to race in Brands, so I took it. As for the rest of the season, I don’t have anything further planned at present.”
“It’ll be hard as I haven’t been in the car since Zolder last year. However, if we can get the track time in practice we should be able to improve.”
“Both Delsaux and Armetta have been in the series for several years so, hopefully, we’ve got a lot of experience there to help me too.”
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