Buggyra ZM Racing will enter the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2022 and expand its worldwide racing program with twin sisters Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc.
The 17-year-olds will pilot No. 29 and No. 47 Ford Mustangs both EuroNASCAR championships.
Owned by Czech motorsport legend Martin Koloc, Buggyra ZM Racing is one of the most successful truck racing operations in the world.
They won the European drivers title six times, the teams’ title five times, the Chinese championship three times and the Indian championship once.
Founded in 1969, the team also won this year’s Dakar in the T3 category. The team also fields entries in GT Endurance racing and the FIA Cross Country Championship, operating from five different Technology Centers in Dubai (UAE), Jinan (China), the Czech Republic, France and Spain.
“Our NASCAR Whelen Euro Series participation is our first step into NASCAR ‘territory,’” Koloc said. “We strongly believe in the NASCAR concept in terms of extremely competitive racing as well as a platform for young drivers’ development and diversity.”
“We are very happy to welcome such a great team, which will also field two talented young ladies who were very impressive in their first testing sessions,” Jerome Galpin, NASCAR Euro Series president, said. “We fully share Martin’s vision about the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series being the perfect platform to develop a young driver’s career, in NASCAR of course, but also in GT, prototypes, touring cars and more.
“With 400 hp and no electronic aids, drivers really have to handle every aspect of their performance and with EuroNASCAR’s high level of competition and ‘Pure Racing’ rules, you know exactly where you are as well as what and how to improve,” he added.
After taking part in the Club Challenge event at Most in August and testing the EuroNASCAR car at Fontenay Le Comte in November, Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc are set to become the youngest women drivers in the Euro Series.
By competing in both Euro Series championships, they will aim at maximizing track time and speeding the learning curve in the most competitive touring car series in Europe.
Despite her young age, Aliyyah Koloc broke several records in the last couple of seasons.
She became the youngest winner in the French Truck Racing Championship in 2020 and she set two World Speed Records for trucks in the 500m distance. She also competed in GT3 and touring cars races.
“I’m so excited for this new challenge ahead of us,” Aliyahh Koloc said. “I tested a few times this year and enjoyed it a lot. I can combine my experiences from truck racing and GT racing together.”
Yasmeen Koloc will pilot the No. 47 Mustang. She started karting in 2019 and in the short span of two seasons proved herself in touring cars racing by winning the ’20 Endurance TC-2.0 Championship and debuting both in Formula 4 and GT4 where she won the last race of the ESET CUP season.
“I am very excited for the new challenge,” Yasmeen Koloc said. “It is going to be really fun to drive the NASCAR car, quite different from the GT4 but I’m really looking forward to this new experience and I think it’s going to be very fun.”
The European NASCAR series will return to action on April 9-10, 2022, and will visit seven countries before crowning champions and trophy winners at Automotodrom Grobnik, in Croatia, Oct. 29-30.