Dutch sensation Bruno Mulders revealed that his decision to join EuroNASCAR was influenced by Jacques Villeneuve, who saw that Mulders’ style “really fits” with the stock cars.
Bruno Mulders revealed in an interview with NASCAR Euro Series that former F1 world champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve made a big contribution in his decision to join EuroNASCAR in 2025.
Mulders was introduced to Villeneuve in 2023. That year, he joined Villeneuve and Patrick Lemarié’s FEED Racing driver academy to earn his first experience in car racing.
The Dutchman advanced all the way to the finals, but lost to Canadian-Korean driver Kevin Foster in FEED’s yearly scholarship competition.
Despite this, both drivers remained in touch and when Mulders ran into personal troubles that forced him to skip the entire 2024 racing season, JV came to his aid to help him find a seat for 2025.
“At the end of 2023 I did the FEED Racing program, which was organized by Villeneuve and Lemarié,” said Mulders on Villeneuve’s contribution to his career.
“They were using the Formula 4 cars, which was basically my first ever introduction into car racing and also open wheel racing. I ran very well and finished fourth in the program.”
“[But then] I had quite a difficult year in 2024. With some stuff happening around the family and all this stuff in school as well, I had a year off and I didn’t drive anything. It basically seemed like everything was a bit over for me.”
“And then in 2025, we got into some talks with Villeneuve. He said that my driving style really fits with the NASCAR cars, as it is quite an overpowered car compared to a Formula 4, which is quite underpowered in terms of driving style.”
Villeneuve is familiar with the EuroNASCAR machines himself. The Canadian competed from 2019 to 2021 and ran full-time in 2019 – the only year in his post-F1 career where he completed a full season campaign for any championship.
JV also had plans to run full-time in the latter seasons, but clashes with his F1 punditry duties for Canal+ prevented him from doing so.
He won two races in his three-year stint, that being his final two races at Vallelunga in 2021. Villeneuve also scored five additional podium finishes and three pole positions.
Villeneuve’s recommendation led Mulders to reach out to EuroNASCAR’s founder and CEO Jerome Galpin for a spot in the 2025 Drivers Recruitment Test.
Mulders earned his berth and subsequently passed the test with flying colors. He received offers from several teams shortly after, including from Team Bleekemolen – the team that Mulders chose to compete with in 2025.
The 17-year old’s partnership with Team Bleekemolen resulted in a fantastic first season across both divisions.
Mulders came third in the EuroNASCAR OPEN standings with one victory at Oschersleben and also grabbed one EuroNASCAR PRO podium in the Zolder finale, becoming the youngest top class podium finisher in the process.
“After that [Villeneuve’s recommendation], we got to talks with Jerome Galpin and we did a test day,” explained Mulders. “I don’t remember the track, but it was in France, a small track where they always test [Circuits de Vendée in Fontaney-le-Comte].”
“It went very well. It was in the rain, but the speed was great already. Then we got into contact with some teams and we decided to go with Team Bleekemolen. From there on, you know the story in 2025.”
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