Our first Race Preview for NASCAR GP Belgium takes a look at the Entry List changes that will happen as 30 teams and 51 drivers are currently listed on the Provisional Entry List for the penultimate round of the 2022 season.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will be back for the penultimate round of the 2022 season at Circuit Zolder next week as the series unveiled the Provisional Entry List for NASCAR GP Belgium on 1 October 2022.
A total of 30 teams and 51 drivers from all three classes are currently listed on the Entry List that revealed some surprise non-appearances along with the confirmation of the return of some of the sport’s familiar names.
Given that NASCAR GP Belgium will see some drivers earn two chances to score a finishing result that could change what results will be dropped from their current results, our Race Preview for NASCAR GP Belgium will be split into four parts as we will create an extra part that will be focused on the dropped points aspect of this year’s championship.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
In comparison to the previous round at Most, NASCAR GP Belgium is set to feature more changes in the team’s side as two teams will be running fewer cars while two other teams will be entering more cars.
Of those that were running fewer cars, Academy Motorsport will enter just two cars as the team will not bring the No. 1 Ford Mustang to Zolder. It is presumed that the team is still trying to fix the issues that plagued the No. 1 car at Most and is expected to bring the car back for the final round at Rijeka. The other team set to run fewer cars at Zolder is Not Only Motorsport, who will only bring the No. 36 team next week.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, PK Carsport will be bringing two cars to Zolder as the team is set to enter the No. 11 Chevy alongside the No. 24 car that had competed full-time this year. Team Bleekemolen would also bring more cars to Zolder, although in their case the team will be returning to their full strength as they opted to not bring the No. 72 team to Most due to Melvin de Groot’s absence.
A surprise omission from the list is Buggyra ZM Racing, who will not be entering the round at Zolder. An insider source has told us that the Emirati team, which initially entered two cars before switching to a single-car team at Brands Hatch due to Yasmeen Koloc’s injury, will not compete for the rest of the season.
In addition, as previously reported, a new team will be making their debut in EuroNASCAR as Kenko Miura’s newly formed Team Japan NEEDS24 is set to become the first Japanese team to enter the sport with their participation at Zolder.
The EuroNASCAR PRO field will feature 29 drivers and in a very shocking move, PK Carsport has elected to not enter the championship leader Alon Day as the Hasselt-based team decided to enter both Pol van Pollaert and the returning Anthony Kumpen on their two cars for this week.
It is unknown why PK Carsport has, controversially, elected to not enter Day given his status as the championship leader, but it does provide a huge championship implication as Day will not be able to drop his 16th place finish in the second race at Brands Hatch, potentially allowing drivers such as Alexander Graff and Giorgio Maggi to snatch the championship lead from the Israeli when the series heads to the final round at Rijeka.
The absence of Buggyra, Academy’s No. 1 team and Not Only’s three other teams also meant that neither Thomas Krasonis, Aliyyah Koloc, Davide Dallara and Nicolò Gabossi are currently listed to participate in the Entry List. It is possible that Federico Monti will step down from the driving duties in the No. 2 car to allow Krasonis to compete at Zolder, but Aliyyah, Dallara and Gabossi are expected to not compete in Zolder.
Thomas Dombrowski, the young French driver that made his debut in EuroNASCAR on the Club Challenge division at Vallelunga, is listed to make his debut in the EuroNASCAR PRO class for Team Bleekemolen.
He will be joined by Swiss driver Remo Lips in the list of top class debutants at Zolder as former three-time ADAC GT Masters Trophy Cup winner, who has been sponsored by Racingfuel.biz in his ADAC GT days, is listed as the driver of Racingfuel Motorsport’s No. 94 team.
Stefano Attianese completes the list of changes as the Italian is set to make a return to Double V Racing’s No. 27 Ford Mustang next weekend.
In the EuroNASCAR 2 class, 27 drivers are currently listed on the Provisional Entry List that saw minor changes in comparison to the changes that have been listed in both the teams and the EuroNASCAR PRO division.
Kasparas Vingilis has been transferred to Academy’s No. 2 team while Christian Malcharek has been transferred to PK’s No. 11 team for Zolder. In addition, Kenko Miura is listed to compete in both EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 on the Provisional Entry List, making him one of the five drivers that are listed to compete in both classes this weekend.
EuroNASCAR’s regularity-based division, the Club Challenge, has listed a whopping 14 drivers on the Entry List although it is expected that only the usual contenders such as Monti, Gordon Barnes, Andreas Kuchelbacher and Neo Lambert will be entered for the championship points.
Interestingly, Kuchelbacher’s entry is listed as part of Hendriks Motorsport’s No. 50 team instead of the No. 46 Marko Stipp Motorsport entry that he had been a part of for the previous three rounds in Club Challenge this year. It has since been clarified, however, that this was a mistake in the Entry List listing and Kuchelbacher will drive the No. 46 SimThunder Chevrolet for the penultimate round in Club Challenge.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Disclaimer: Unless noted on the photo, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard / Bart Dehaese / Klemen Sofric.
Last Updated: 6 October 2022
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