The 2018 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is the tenth Racecar Euro Series season, and the sixth under the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series branding. The season consisted of six meetings – with two races at each meeting – starting on 14 April at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, and ending on 21 October at Circuit Zolder in Belgium. Alon Day and Thomas Ferrando entered the season as the defending champion in Elite 1 and Elite 2 respectively.
In the Elite 1 class, Alon Day successfully defended his Elite 1 title, winning the championship by 28 points over Frédéric Gabillon. In the Elite 2 class, Ulysse Delsaux scored his first NASCAR Euro Series title, ahead of Go Fas Racing's Florian Venturi by six points. RDV Compétition won the team's championship title, while Toyota won their first Euro Series manufacturer's title.
Teams and drivers
NASCAR released the entry list for the teams participating on 15 March 2018.
Elite 1 Division Manufacturer Car Team Race Driver Rounds Chevrolet SS Racing Total 10 Miguel Angel Dasi 1–4 William Ayer, Jr. 6 Pegasus Racing 29 Julien Schell 1–3 Mishumotors 33 Lucas Lasserre All 70 Dominik Farnbacher 5 Dale Quarterley 6 Camaro SS PK Carsport 11 Stienes Longin All Camaro SS 24 Anthony Kumpen 1–4 Bert Longin 5 Koen Wauters 6 Braxx Racing 91 Marc Goossens All Camaro SS Dexwet DF1 Racing 66 Christophe Bouchut 1–3, 6 Camaro SS Memphis Racing 77 Alexander Graff All Ford Mustang Renauer Motorsport 5 Martin Doubek 1 Racers Motorsport 8 Dario Caso All 9 Gianmarco Ercoli All BVR Motorsport 27 Angelo Rogari 1–4 Go Fas Racing 32 Romain Iannetta All Knauf Racing 37 Thomas Ferrando All 73 Wilfried Boucenna All MRT by Nocentini 40 Marconi Abreu 1 47 Marconi Abreu 2 Renzo Calcinati 5 58 Alex Sedgwick 1 Hendriks Motorsport 50 Loris Hezemans All RDV Compétition 51 Didier Bec 3, 5 Braxx Racing 78 Jerry de Weerdt 1–5 Dylan Derdaele 6 Toyota Camry Alex Caffi Motorsport 2 Kenko Miura All RDV Compétition3 Frédéric Gabillon All 04 Jean-François Dumoulin 6 18 Bobby Labonte All Ford Chevrolet MustangCamry Alex Caffi Motorsport 1 Borja García 1 Alex Caffi 2 Bert Longin 3 Henri Tuomaala 5-6 Chevrolet Ford SSMustang Belgium Driver Academy 7 Martin Doubek 2–6 Chevrolet Ford Racing Total 46 Justin Kunz All Chevrolet Ford CamaroMustang Solaris Motorsports 12 Francesco Sini All Chevrolet Ford Race Art - Blu Mot 31 Mauro Trione All Chevrolet Ford The Club Motorsports 41 Davide Di Benedetto 1 Fabrizio Armetta 2, 6 Max Lanza 3 Chevrolet Ford Braxx Racing 90 Alex Sedgwick 3–6 Chevrolet Toyota SSCamry CAAL Racing 44 Matthias Hauer All Chevrolet Toyota 54 Alon Day All Chevrolet Toyota 56 Salvador Tineo Arroyo 1, 5 Alex Ciompi 2 Nicolò Rocca 3, 6
Elite 2 Division Manufacturer Car Team Race Driver Rounds Chevrolet Camaro Solaris Motorsports 12 Francesco Sini 3 Dexwet DF1 Racing 66 Clemens Sparowitz 3, 5 SS Racing Total 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb 1 Marko Stipp 3 Stephen Young 4 Carmen Boix Gil 5 Diederik Ceyssens 6 Pegasus Racing 29 Claude Jean Diebolt 1 Julien Schell 2–3 Mishumotors 33 Eric Quintal 1–2 Freddy Nordström 3 Carmen Boix Gil 4 Ian Eric Wadén 5 70 Mirco Schultis 5-6 Camaro SS PK Carsport 11 Felipe Rabello All Camaro SS 24 Guillaume Dumarey 1–4, 6 Pol Van Pollaert 5 Camaro SS Memphis Racing 77 Guillaume Deflandre All Braxx Racing 91 Tom Boonen All Ford Mustang Renauer Motorsport 5 Maxime Pampel 1 Racers Motorsport 8 Nicholas Risitano All 9 Fillipo Vita 1 Simone Laureti 2–6 BVR Motorsport 27 Pierluigi Veronesi All Go Fas Racing 32 Florian Venturi All Knauf Racing 37 Wilfired Boucenna All 73 Paul Guiod All MRT by Nocentini 40 Marconi Abreu 1 47 Marconi Abreu 2 Renzo Calcinati 5 58 Julio Carayol Casas 1 Alex Sedgwick 2 Hendriks Motorsport 50 Diederik Ceyssens 1–4 RDV Compétition 51 Hugo Bec 3, 5 Braxx Racing 78 Jerry de Weerdt All Toyota Camry Alex Caffi Motorsport 2 Kenko Miura 1, 3–6 Denny Zardo 2 RDV Compétition 3 Ulysse Delsaux All 04 Jean-François Dumoulin 6 18 Adrien Paviot 4 Ford Chevrolet MustangCamry Alex Caffi Motorsport 1 Carmen Boix Gil 1–3, 6 Jesse Vartiainen 5 Chevrolet Ford SSMustang Belgium Driver Academy 7 Maxime Pampel 2–6 Chevrolet Ford Racing Total 46 Justin Kunz All Chevrolet Ford CamaroMustang Race Art - Blu Mot 31 Francesco Parli All Chevrolet Ford The Club Motorsports 41 Max Lanza 1–3, 5-6 Chevrolet Ford Braxx Racing 90 Pedro Bonnet All Chevrolet Ford Dexwet DF1 Racing 99 Advait Deodhar 3, 5 Chevrolet Toyota SSCamry CAAL Racing 44 Gil Linster All Chevrolet Toyota 54 Arianna Casoli All Chevrolet Toyota 56 Maciej Dreszer 1–4, 6 Thomas Fritsch 5
Driver changes Romain Iannetta will return to the series after a two-year absence, with him joining Go Fas Racing as their Elite 1 driver for this season. French F4 Championship driver Florian Venturi will make his debut in the series, joining Go Fas Racing as their Elite 2 driver for this season. Felipe Rabello switches team from CAAL Racing to PK Carsport, replacing Justin Kunz who switched to competing in both divisions with Racing Total. Maciej Dreszer switches team from DF1 Racing to CAAL Racing. In addition, German driver Matthias Hauer will make his series debut, replacing Swedish driver Freddy Nordström as the Elite 1 driver of the No. 44 car. Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb will make her debut in the series, with her driving the No. 10 car of Racing Total. Both Loris Hezemans and Diederik Ceyssens will make their series debut driving the No. 50 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang, driving in Elite 1 and Elite 2 respectively. Swiss drivers Mauro Trione and Francesco Parli will make their series debut driving the No. 31 Race Art Technology Ford Mustang, driving in Elite 1 and Elite 2 respectively. Lucas Lasserre will make his full-time debut in the series after participating part-time last season with Mishumotors. His teammates Eric Quintal and Advait Deodhar will also make their series debut, with Quintal driving in Elite 2 and Deodhar driving in Elite Club division. Former pro cyclist Tom Boonen and fellow Belgian Pedro Bonnet signed with Braxx Racing, with both making their series debut. Pedro Bonnet will drive the team's No. 90 car, while Boonen will drive the team's No. 91 car alongside Marc Goossens, who got transferred from the No. 90 car to the No. 91 car for this season. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte will make his full-time debut in the series, following his debut at Brands Hatch in 2017, driving the No. 18 RDV Compétition Toyota Camry in Elite 1.
Team changes For the first time in the team's history, Braxx Racing will field an Elite 2 driver other than Jerry de Weerdt. Former pro cyclist Tom Boonen and fellow Belgian Pedro Bonnet signed with the team to drive in Elite 2. Braxx also expands into a three-car team with the addition of the No. 91 car into the team, with the No. 91 car fielding the new Camaro chassis instead of the Mustang chassis. Hendriks Motorsport (not to be confused with Hendrick Motorsports that currently competes in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) supported Team Raceway Venray during the 2016 season but will now enter under their own name. The car is owned by Loris' father, former touring car racer Toine Hezemans. Solaris Motorsports will enter the season with Francesco Sini after racing mainly GT3 machinery in previous years. Go Fas Racing will expand to NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. This will make Go Fas the first team that competed in any of NASCAR's top three series to enter a car in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Romain Iannetta will be the team's Elite 1 driver, while Florian Venturi will be the team's Elite 2 driver. Mishumotors will downsize from a two-car team into a single car team. Racers Motorsport also downsizes from a three-car team into a two-car team after previously listing a three-car squad to enter this season. Racing Total will make their NASCAR Euro Series full-season debut after previously competed in three races last season. They will also expand into a two-car team with the part-time No. 10 car. MRT by Nocentini returns to the series full-time, their first since 2016 as Double T by MRT Nocentini. They will also expand into a two-team effort following a one car part-time effort last season, with MRT fielding cars No. 40 (later renumbered as the No. 47 car) and No. 58 for this season. The Club Motorsports is expected to make their first full-season effort in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series after participating part-time in the 2017 season. Pegasus Racing switches from endurance racing to NASCAR Whelen Euro Series starting from this season. BVR Motorsport and Race Art Technology are expected to make their debut in the series, both participating full-time fielding one car each for this season. Memphis Racing will make their debut in the series as a late addition to the entry list. They will field the No. 77 Chevrolet for this season.
Manufacturer changes NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will update their Chevrolet body style into a Camaro ZL1-based body style, in line with the move made by Chevrolet in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that also introduces a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 body style replacing the Chevrolet SS body style that have been used since the inception of the Generation 6 body style in 2013. Despite this, due to lack of available parts, all Chevrolet teams were using the Chevrolet SS body in Valencia and Franciacorta. BFGoodrich will become the series sole tyre supplier. The 100% Michelin subsidiary takes over from the parent company which supplied tyres for the series since its inception in 2009.
Mid-season team changes The Camaro body debuted at Franciacorta after the #91 Braxx Racing team made a switch to a Camaro body between Race 1 and Race 2 of the race weekend, with their Elite 2 driver Tom Boonen would become the first driver to use the new Camaro body in a NWES race (previously Chevrolet teams used a SS body similar to the body used in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series from 2013 to 2017). As the season goes by, fellow Chevrolet teams PK Carsport, DF1 Racing, and Memphis Racing would also switched to the Camaro chassis. Three Ford teams, Solaris Motorsport, The Club Motorsports, and Race Art - Blu Mot, switched manufacturers to Chevrolet after the Camaro chassis became available for use. Later on, fellow Ford team Braxx Racing's No. 90 team would also make the switch to Chevrolet Camaro chassis. CAAL Motorsport and Racing Total's No. 46 team switched manufacturers mid-season, switching to Toyota and Ford respectively. Belgium Driver Academy made its debut at Franciacorta, running the #7 car for Martin Doubek and Maxime Pampel, both previously driving the #5 Renauer Motorsport Ford Mustang at Valencia. The team also replaces Renauer Motorsport, who shut down its operations after the Valencia round. After competing the first two races of the season, MRT by Nocentini withdrawn their entries for the rest of the season, although the team made a return for the Hockenheim round with Renzo Calcinati behind the wheel of the No. 47 car. Pegasus Racing also withdrawn their entries for the rest of the season after their only car was written out following a heavy accident in Brands Hatch. After the fourth round in Tours, BVR Motorsports and Hendriks Motorsport would withdrawn their Elite 1 and Elite 2 entries respectively for the rest of the season. RDV Compétition's third entry, the No. 51 Ford Mustang driven Didier Bec and Hugo Bec, made a return for a part-time effort, competing in Brands Hatch and Hockenheim. They would also later field the No. 04 Toyota Camry for NASCAR Pinty's Series driver Jean-François Dumoulin at Zolder as part of a driver exchange program that the Euro Series ran in conjunction with Pinty's Series. Alex Caffi Motorsport's No. 1 team would switch manufacturers to Toyota starting from Hockenheim.