PARIS – The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will take on the virtual racing world with a brand new series, the EuroNASCAR Esports Series.
Starting on April 21 with a Prologue Race at the virtual Daytona Int’l Speedway Road Course, the virtual championship will then feature seven points-scoring events and for the first time in sim-racing, impact the real-life NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Teams Championship.
All NASCAR Whelen Euro Series teams and more than 60 drivers already confirmed their entry for the first ENES season, ready to battle every Tuesday night live at 8 p.m. CET.
After the non-championship Prologue event at Daytona, the weekly EuroNASCAR Esports Series will head towards virtual Brands Hatch, England, on April 28 for a night racing on the iconic Indy Circuit, home of the popular American SpeedFest in real life. The following Tuesday, the EuroNASCAR Esports Series will make a virtual trip to the other side of the Atlantic to race at Watkins Glen Int’l allowing European racers to compete at the legendary track in the federal state of New York.
On May 12, the series will return to Europe to celebrate a very special debut: Circuit Park Zandvoort will welcome the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series drivers for the first time for a night of door-to-door racing on the 4.307 km road course on the North Sea shore. The road course layout of the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway will close the regular season on May 19.
For the first event of the double-points paying playoffs, the EuroNASCAR Esports Series will return to Brands Hatch to race on the Grand Prix layout for another unique debut. The second Semi Final will then take place at the unique Charlotte ROVAL in North Carolina while the season will close at one of the crown jewels of the real-life NASCAR Whelen Euro Series calendar: Circuit Zolder in Belgium.
Drivers will not only fight to become the first EuroNASCAR Esports Series champion. For the first time, results of the virtual series will also have an impact on the real-life Team Championship of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. At the end of the virtual season, the EuroNASCAR Esports Series champion will bring 40 bonus points to his team, the equivalent of one regular season race, while the runner-up will earn 35 points, third place will be worth 34 points, and so on.
While in real life two drivers share one NASCAR Whelen Euro Series car and sum their points for the Teams Championship, in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series each driver will compete separately and only the best placed will score points for the team at the end of the season.
With more than 60 drivers already entered, the first ever EuroNASCAR Esports Series will adopt a compact and exciting heat racing format. After a two-lap qualifying session, two 10-minute heat races will each send the top-15 drivers to the main event. Those who fail to advance from the heat races will have one last opportunity to find their way to the final through the 10-min last chance qualifier, which will award six transfer positions. The main event race will be 30 minutes long and award EuroNASCAR Esports Series championship points using the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series points system.