The 2022 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is the fourteenth Racecar Euro Series season, and the tenth under the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series branding. The season will begin on 14 May with the NASCAR GP Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo and is currently scheduled to end on 30 October with the EuroNASCAR Finals at Automotodrom Grobnik. Loris Hezemans and Martin Doubek are the reigning champion in the EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2 division respectively, although Hezemans will not defend his title as he will move to the NASCAR Cup Series to compete with Team Hezeberg. Hendriks Motorsport will enter the season as the defending team's champion.
Frédéric Gabillon is scheduled to be returning to full-time competition in 2022 after only competing part-time in the 2021 season. Gabillon was due to compete full-time last season, but RDV Competition announced the withdrawal of Gabillon's entry on 20 September 2021 with preparation for the 2022 season being cited as one of the reasons of its withdrawal.[8]
On 3 November 2021, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series reveals that Loris Hezemans will not defend his title in 2022 as he moves to the United States to race in the NASCAR Cup Series with Team Hezeberg. His 2021 teammate and defending EuroNASCAR 2 champion Martin Doubek will replace Hezemans as the EuroNASCAR PRO driver of Hendriks Motorsport-MOMO's No. 7 car, marking his return as a full-time competitor in EuroNASCAR PRO.[46][9][10]
On 22 November 2021, Leonardo Colavita revealed through an interview with Leadlap that he will be racing full-time in the EuroNASCAR 2 division for 2022. Colavita previously competed part-time in both classes in 2021. Later on 24 February 2022, JTG Daugherty Racing announced that Colavita has received official support from the team and would drive the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro for Racers Motorsport. The following day, it was announced that Colavita will also compete full-time in the EuroNASCAR PRO division for the 2022 season.[12][13][15]
On 23 November 2021, it was announced that SpeedHouse will promote Paul Jouffreau to the EuroNASCAR 2 division in 2022 after one season in the EuroNASCAR Club Challenge division. Jouffreau, who signed a two-year contract extension with the team, will drive the second Speedhouse car in EuroNASCAR 2.[18]
On 24 November 2021, it was announced that United Arab Emirates-born sisters Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc will make their full-time debuts in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series for Buggyra ZM Racing. Aliyyah will be driving the No. 29 Ford Mustang while Yasmeen will drive the No. 38 Ford Mustang, both of whom will compete in both classes. Yasmeen was initially due to ran the No. 47, but a number claiming dispute with Racers Motorsport led to Buggyra changing her car number to No. 38 as announced by the team on 8 March 2022.[29][30]
On 21 December 2021, CAAL Racing announced that the team have signed Gil Linster for a full-season campaign in EuroNASCAR 2 for 2022. This will mark Linster's third season with CAAL in EuroNASCAR, having previously raced with the team in the 2017 and 2018 seasons.[45]
On 22 December 2021, Thomas Krasonis announced that he will be receiving a promotion to the EuroNASCAR PRO class in 2022. Krasonis will maintain his seat at Academy Motorsport, although he will be transferred to the team's No. 1 car for the 2022 season.[5][6]
On 11 January 2022, Not Only Motorsport announced that Vittorio Ghirelli will be competing with the team full-time in 2022. Ghirelli previously drove for Not Only in the 2021 season's final round at Vallelunga, having previously drove for Hendriks Motorsport for most of the season before making the team switch.[1]
On 13 January 2022, Leadlap reveals that Solaris Motorsport has parted ways with Alina Loibnegger on mutual agreement due to sponsorship reasons. The announcement came after Loibnegger previously announced during an interview with Leadlap on 14 December 2021 that she will retain her EuroNASCAR 2 seat at Solaris. It's currently unknown on who will replace Loibnegger at Solaris, while NASCAR Whelen Euro Series' official social media accounts would later reveal on 20 February 2022 that Alina Loibnegger will join Not Only Motorsport for the 2022 season. It was subsequently reported through an exclusive interview with Leadlap that was published on 17 March 2022 that Loibnegger will drive the No. 00 Chevrolet Camaro for Not Only Motorsport in 2022.[16][47][35][36]
On 18 January 2022, CAAL Racing announced that Max Lanza will compete in the EuroNASCAR PRO class for the 2022 season with the team's No. 88 Camaro, replacing Alon Day who is set to make his return to PK Carsport. Lanza is thus scheduled to make his first EuroNASCAR PRO start since the 2019 season, where he competed part-time in the then-called Elite 1 class for The Club Motorsport.[33][26]
On 3 February 2022, it was announced that The Club Motorsport's owner-driver Fabrizio Armetta will be contesting the 2022 season full-time with the No. 55 Camaro fielded by his own team. This is scheduled to be Armetta's first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series since 2014.[32]
On 4 February 2022, Hendriks Motorsport announced that Tobias Dauenhauer will receive a promotion to EuroNASCAR PRO after competing for two years in EuroNASCAR 2. Dauenhauer will be joined by Loris Hezemans' younger brother Liam Hezemans, who will be making his series debut as the EuroNASCAR 2 driver of Hendriks' No. 50 Ford.[11]
On 5 February 2022, Academy Motorsport announced that Patrick Lemarié will be joining the team as one of the team's EuroNASCAR PRO drivers in 2022. Lemarié, who had previously competed with the team at Zolder last year as a replacement driver for Jacques Villeneuve, will be switching teams from DF1 Racing. The same announcement also reveals that team co-owner Federico Monti will be stepping down to compete in EuroNASCAR 2 for the 2022 season after he competed in EuroNASCAR PRO in 2021.[7]
On 8 February 2022, Finnish newspaper publisher Keskisuomalainen reports that Finnish V8 Thunder Cars driver [fi] is set to compete in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series with a Dutch-based team in 2022. It is subsequently revealed on 7 March 2022 that Rautjärvi is set to drive for Team Bleekemolen as part of Iceboys' joint partnership with the team, with Rautjärvi being set to make his Euro Series debut as the EuroNASCAR PRO driver of the No. 44 team.[25][24]
On 16 February 2022, it was announced that Advait Deodhar will be switching teams to Not Only Motorsport for the 2022 season. Deodhar will drive Not Only's No. 90 Chevrolet as the teammate of Alberto Panebianco, who will be staying in the team's No. 89 Chevrolet for another year.[37]
On 26 February 2022, it was announced that Giorgio Maggi will be joining Race Art Technology to drive the No. 18 Toyota Camry in the 2022 season.[19]
On 3 March 2022, Academy Motorsport announced that Andrea Tronconi will be making his series debut in 2022 as the driver of Academy's No. 1 car in EuroNASCAR 2.[38]
On 4 March 2022, it was announced that Melvin de Groot will be joining Team Bleekemolen for a full-season campaign in EuroNASCAR 2 for 2022. Melvin joined Team Bleekemolen last year as a replacement driver for Michael Bleekemolen in the Croatian and Belgium rounds after Michael was injured in a GT2 accident at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The announcement also revealed that Michael Bleekemolen is set to make his return to the championship as the EuroNASCAR 2 driver of Team Bleekemolen's newly-expanded No. 72 Ford Mustang.[23]
On 7 March 2022, it was announced that Nicolò Gabossi will be making the step up to EuroNASCAR PRO for the full season with Not Only Motorsport in 2022. Gabossi, who primarily competed in EuroNASCAR Club Challenge in 2021, raced part-time in the EuroNASCAR PRO class as part of the rotation of drivers that competed with Not Only Motorsport's No. 90 team last year.[3]
On 7 March 2022, it was announced that Henri Tuomaala and Janne Koikkalainen will be joining Team Bleekemolen as part of Iceboys' new partnership agreement with Team Bleekemolen. Tuomaala will continue to compete in EuroNASCAR PRO with the No. 23 Ford Mustang while Koikkalainen is scheduled to make his full-season debut in EuroNASCAR 2 with the No. 44 team.[24]
On 9 March 2022, Arianna Casoli announced that she will be switching teams to SpeedHouse for the 2022 season. Casoli is set to drive SpeedHouse's newly-expanded No. 14 Ford Mustang in the EuroNASCAR 2 division.[17]
On 11 March 2022, CAAL Racing announced that Italian motorcycle racer and racing driver Alberto Fontana, better known as the YouTubecontent creator Alberto Naska, will be joining the series to make his stock car racing debut in EuroNASCAR 2 with CAAL's No. 88 team.[44]
On 12 March 2022, it was announced that Israeli driver Naveh Talor will be switching teams to DF1 Racing as the new EuroNASCAR 2 driver of the No. 22 team. Talor will be replacing Justin Kunz, whose status is currently unknown. Despite this, Kunz is currently still listed as a driver for DF1 in 2022 according to the team's official website.[40][41]
On 16 March 2022, Double V Racing announced on their Facebook page that Austrian driver Patrick Schober will be making his Euro Series debut as the team's EuroNASCAR 2 driver, replacing team co-owner Pierluigi Veronesi whose status as a driver for 2022 is currently unknown.[42][28]
Teams[]
On 23 November 2021, it was announced that SpeedHouse will be expanding into a two-car team in 2022. SpeedHouse has yet to announce the number and the body used for the team's second entry, although Paul Jouffreau is set to drive the car in the EuroNASCAR 2 division. Later on 9 March 2022, it was announced that SpeedHouse will be expanding further with the addition of the No. 14 Ford Mustang to accompany the No. 64 and No. TBA teams. Marco Raggi, who previously acted as Shadow Racing Cars' team principal for the past two seasons, will join the SpeedHouse team to become its new Sporting Manager.[18][17]
On 24 November 2021, it was announced that European Truck Racing Championship team Buggyra Racing will be expanding their operations to NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2022. Buggyra, who will be competing as Buggyra ZM Racing in EuroNASCAR, will field the No. 29 and No. 38 Ford Mustang for sisters Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc with sponsorship from Shandong Zero Mileage Lubrication.[29]
On 11 January 2022, it was revealed that one of Not Only Motorsport's teams will be changing numbers to No. 36 in 2022. Subsequent announcements would reveal that the No. 36 will act as Not Only's third team as the team is set to retain the No. 89 and No. 90 teams this year. This would mean that Not Only would set to field three cars for the first time after plans to run a third car in 2021 didn't materialized. Reports from Leadlap's exclusive interview with the team's new signing Alina Loibnegger on 17 March 2022 revealed that the team will be expanding further into a four-car team with the addition of the No. 00 team, which was reported to be using the team's No. 90 entry from last year.[1][37][36]
On 2 February 2022, it was announced that Swiss organization Racingfuel GmbH will be making their series debut in 2022, fielding the No. 93 and No. 94 Chevrolet Camaro's under the Racingfuel Motorsport banner.[34]
On 3 February 2022, it was announced that The Club Motorsport is planning to compete full-time for the 2022 season with the No. 55 Dinoil Chevrolet Camaro. This is scheduled to be The Club's first full-time campaign in EuroNASCAR after the team competed part-time for the last five seasons.[32]
On 4 February 2022, Hendriks Motorsport announced that the team will be scaling down to field just two cars for the 2022 season. The team would retain the No. 7 and No. 50 teams while the No. 18 team, which ran full-time in EuroNASCAR PRO with Giorgio Maggi last year, would be shut down.[48]
DF1 Racing will downscale to three cars after the team fielded a total of five cars throughout the 2021 season. The team will continue to field the No. 22, No. 66, and No. 77 teams in 2022.[21]
PK Carsport will be returning to the series after the team took a hiatus from full-time competition in EuroNASCAR last season.[26]
Vict Motorsport will be rebranded once again as the team is scheduled to use the Racers Motorsport name for the first time since 2019. The team will also enter into a partnership with JTG Daugherty Racing to field Leonardo Colavita in the 2022 season, which would also see the team renumber their No. 9 car to the No. 47 to reflect the partnership with JTG Daugherty. Racers would also retain the partnership with Italian team Scuderia Speed Motor to help field the team's No. 8 car in 2022.[13][14]
On 26 February 2022, it was announced that Race Art Technology will be rejoining the championship as a full entry to field Giorgio Maggi in the No. 18 Toyota Camry. Race Art Technology has previously fielded a full entry in 2018 before stepping down its involvement in the series to become a technical partner for Alex Caffi Motorsport and Academy Motorsport in the past two seasons.[19]
On 4 March 2022, Team Bleekemolen announced that the team will be expanding to a two-car team in 2022. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen had previously stated in an interview with Leadlap on 30 November 2021 that Team Bleekemolen is considering to enter two cars next year to allow all the three drivers that were signed with the team. Team Bleekemolen's No. 69 Ford Mustang will continue to compete full-time while the newly-expanded No. 72 Ford Mustang is scheduled to be fielded on selected events only.[22][23][49][50]
On 7 March 2022, it was announced that Finnish racing firm Iceboys will be joining forces with Team Bleekemolen, expanding Team Bleekemolen into a four-car entry in 2022. Iceboys will provide Team Bleekemolen with the No. 23 and No. 44 teams that were fielded under collaboration with DF1 Racing in 2021. The announcement also reveals that all four of Team Bleekemolen cars will be prepared in-house for the 2022 season.[24]
Schedule[]
The provisional calendar for the 2022 season was announced on 29 October 2021.[51] All races of the 2022 season will be held on road courses, although the Winter Classic non-championship event is going to be held on an ice surface.
NASCAR GP Germany at the Hockenheimring will be returning to the series after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hockenheim is scheduled to host the opening round of the season on 9-10 April.
NASCAR GP Spain at Circuit Ricardo Tormo will keep its May date as the second round of the season. Last year, the round hosted the opening round of the season but had its date moved from April to May due to the schedule changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
American SpeedFest, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series' round at Brands Hatch, will be returning to its traditional June date after the round was hosted on 3-4 July in 2021 to coincide with the American Independence Day.
NASCAR GP Italy will not host a championship round as Italy would host an All-Star Event in 2022. Autodromo Vallelunga will continue to host the All-Star Event, but on 4 November 2021 it was announced the track will use the Club Circuit layout instead of the International Circuit layout that was used in 2020 and 2021.[52]
NASCAR GP Czech Republic at Automotodrom Most is now scheduled to host the fourth round of the season, although they will keep the late August-early September date that the round had in 2021.
NASCAR GP Croatia at Automotodrom Grobnik will be scheduled to host the season finale, marking the first occasion that Croatia will host the final round of a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season. The round at Automotodrom Grobnik is scheduled to be held on 29-30 October, effectively taking over the slot vacated by NASCAR GP Italy.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will be hosting NASCAR's first event on ice with the non-championship Winter Classic event that is scheduled to be held somewhere between late 2022 and early 2023. The venue and exact date of the event is currently unknown.
On 25 February 2022, it was announced that NASCAR GP Germany at the Hockenheimring has been cancelled due to "ongoing difficult circumstances for the event". The round at Autodromo Vallelunga, which was previously due to host an All-Star round, will now host the NASCAR GP Italy championship round as a result. It is subsequently revealed that Vallelunga's full layout will be used for the 2022 edition of NASCAR GP Italy.[53][54]
Rule changes[]
On 30 January 2022, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series announced the following changes to their qualifying format in 2022:[55]
EuroNASCAR PRO's qualifying system will now consist of two phases of knockout qualifying, marking the return of the qualifying format that was last used in the 2019 season. The first Qualifying session will be shortened from 30 minutes to 15 minutes while the fastest 10 drivers from the Qualifying session will advance to the 5-minute long SuperPole session.
EuroNASCAR 2's qualifying system retains the single-round format that the series used for both classes in 2020 and 2021, although the Qualifying session time is shortened to 20 minutes.
Notes[]
^ abCars No. 23 and No. 44 was entered under collaboration with Finnish racing team Iceboys.
Not Only Motorsport
TBA
Thomas Krasonis[5][6]
Patrick Lemarié[7]
Hendriks Motorsport-MOMO[9]
Martin Doubek[10]
Tobias Dauenhauer[11]
Race Art Technology[19]
DF1 Racing
Henri Tuomaala[24]
PK Carsport[26]
Alon Day[26]
Buggyra ZM Racing[29]
Evgeny Sokolovsky[31]
Advait Deodhar[37]
Vladimiros Tziortzis[39]
Miguel Gomes[43]
Gil Linster[45]
Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia
Brands Hatch (Indy), West Kingsdown
Automotodrom Grobnik, Čavle
TBA