NASCAR has four racing series outside the three main ones in the United States. There’s one in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. The fourth one is based in Europe and is known as the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. It is the only NASCAR-sanctioned series that takes place on the European continent.
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However, unlike the one in the country where most of the races are oval, the Whelen Euro Series sees a majority of road course venues with occasional Europe-based oval races. The series started after Jérôme Galpin, a French rally driver, witnessed a NASCAR race in 2002 and then decided to have a similar stock car racing series but for the European segment. Born out of that idea, the series was started in 2009 as the Racecar Euro Series.
Later on, after Galpin made efforts to garner NASCAR’s interest in the series, they finally decided to partner up and officially have the name changed to the Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series.
The third and final name change appeared after Whelen Engineering decided to take up the primary sponsorship role, hence changing it to the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
What is the format for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series?
The format of using the playoff structure seems to have been borrowed from the original Cup Series. But instead of having 30-plus races like the American variant, they have a total of 28 spread across seven different European countries and all divisions of the series.
Meanwhile, the playoff rounds are four races divided into two rounds known as the semi-final and finals. The points awarded to the drivers in the final two rounds are double that of the regular season.
BREAKING The 2024 #EuroNASCAR calendar is here!
28 races, seven events in 7️⃣ different countries, return to oval racing and expanded playoffs among the new features
Full announcement on https://t.co/Ox6DX37skz#NASCAR #NWES #PureRacing #Motorsport
@dpflug_ pic.twitter.com/wlwiy2YUVK
— NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (@EuroNASCAR) October 11, 2023
The tracks that will feature on the 2024 schedule are as follows –
- Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Spain
- Autodromo Vallelunga, Italy
- Brands Hatch, United Kingdom
- Venray Oval GP, Netherlands
- Autodrom Most, Czech Republic
- Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Germany
- Circuit Zolder, Belgium
Who’s the current driver and team champion in the Euro Series?
To understand how the champions are crowned, one has to know that there are two primary classes in the series. One is the EuroNASCAR Pro drivers championship. The EuroNASCAR Pro division is the main championship that only allows drivers within the gold, silver, or bronze driver classification.
Then comes the EuroNASCAR 2 drivers championship which is only for the silver and the bronze drivers.
Now the EuroNASCAR Pro for the 2023 season was the #54 driver for CAAL Racing, Gianmarco Ercoli. The champion for EuroNASCAR 2 was Paul Jouffreau racing for the #4 RDV Compétition team. Meanwhile, the team’s champion was taken by RDV Compétition.
