Ulysse Delsaux (born 22 September 1997) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the No. 14 Ford Mustang for SpeedHouse Racing in the EuroNASCAR PRO class. He is a one-time champion in the Euro Series, having won the EuroNASCAR 2 championship in 2018.

Racing career

Delsaux made his kart racing debut in the Ile-De-France Minikart Championship at the age of nine, two years after his father Emmanuel gave him his first kart. Early in his career, he competed in the regional championships and won the regional title in 2011, allowing him to move to international championships before a crash forced Delsaux to stop competing in karting.

In 2013, Delsaux switched to stock car racing and joined the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Developmental program. He was given to opportunity to make his racing debut in a street stock race at Bowman-Gray Stadium. In 2014, he made his debut in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, signing a contract to compete in the Elite 2 class with RDV Competition. He finished ninth in the championship with a best finish of fourth in the second race at Umbria.

Delsaux was transferred to the No. 3 team as the Elite 2 partner of Frédéric Gabillon for the 2015 season. He finished the season in 7th in the championship with 1 podium finish in the second race at Tours, two Top-5 finishes, and a total of ten top-ten finishes. In 2016, he made his K&N East debut for Precision Performance Motorsports during the season-opening round at New Smyrna. He qualified in 19th before finishing in 28th after he was involved in a crash on lap 50. He also moved up to the Elite 1 class on the same year, driving the No. 31 RDV Competition Ford Mustang for all twelve races of the season. He finished ninth in points with six top-ten finishes.

The next season, 2017, saw Delsaux move back to Elite 2 class to once again partner Gabillon in the No. 3 RDV Competition team. He scored an emotional first Euro Series career victory at Valencia, winning by 3.5 seconds over eventual championship winner Thomas Ferrando in the Sunday race. Afterward, Delsaux was joined by fellow drivers, spotters, and NASCAR officials to celebrate in the victory lane. Delsaux would finish the season in fourth, scoring a total of one win, six podiums, and ten top-ten finishes.

In 2018, Delsaux once again competed in Elite 2 in the No. 3 RDV Competition team. He swept both races at Tours Speedway to claim his first victories in an oval. Leading the championship coming to the double points-paying playoff rounds at Hockenheim and Zolder, Delsaux started his playoff run with his third victory at the season at the Saturday race in Hockenheim before a puncture on the final lap of the Sunday race denied him of an opportunity to sweep the weekend. At the season finale round in Zolder, Delsaux was able to recover from an early accident to finish in second on the first race before being crowned as the Elite 2 champion after finishing third in the second race. Delsaux finished the season just six points ahead of Florian Venturi in the championship with three wins, six podiums, and ten top-ten finishes.

Delsaux returned to the Elite 1 class in 2019 to replace Bobby Labonte in the second RDV team. Delsaux would run the No. 36 car for 2019. He stated that the No. 36 is an inversion of 63, which serves as a tribute to both his father Emmanuel, who was born in 1963, and Jim Clark, who won his first Formula One title in 1963. He finished ninth in points with one top-five and four top-ten finishes.

For the 2020 season, Delsaux was originally scheduled to race in both the EuroNASCAR PRO and the EuroNASCAR 2 class, and was also going to run the No. 10 instead of the No. 36, stating that he wanted to run the number as a way to represent Aube, his home department. However, he did not race at all that year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Personal life

Delsaux is autistic. He had trouble communicating with others as a child and was unable to talk until he was five years old. , he still had to make a monthly visit with a doctor in Paris. He has said that his aspirations in racing "is the demonstration that there is no obstacle you cannot overcome with hard work, passion, and a strong will to succeed". His childhood idols include Jeff Gordon and Jim Clark.

Delsaux is known to be a fan of anime and his helmet currently features an illustration of Sinon from Sword Art Online on the back of his helmet.

Complete motorsports results

NASCAR

Whelen Euro Series - EuroNASCAR PRO

(key) Bold - Pole position awarded by fastest qualifying time (in Race 1) or by previous race's fastest lap (in Race 2). Italics - Fastest lap. * – Most laps led. ^ – Most positions gained. NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - EuroNASCAR PRO results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts 2016 RDV Competition 31 Ford VAL VAL VEN VEN BRH BRH TOU TOU ADR ADR ZOL ZOL 9th 496 2019 36 Chevy VAL VAL FRA FRA BRH BRH MOS MOS VEN HOC HOC ZOL ZOL 9th 429 2021 RDV Competition 10 Chevy ESP ESP GBR GBR CZE CZE CRO CRO BEL BEL ITA ITA 19th 218 2023 SpeedHouse Racing 14 Ford ESP ESP GBR GBR ITA ITA CZE CZE GER GER BEL BEL 7th 345 2024ESPESP ITA ITA GBR GBR NLD CZE CZE GER GER BEL BEL -* -*

Whelen Euro Series - EuroNASCAR 2

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - EuroNASCAR 2 results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts 2014 RDV Competition 23 Chevy VAL VAL 9th 504 10 BRH BRH TOU TOU NÜR NÜR UMB UMB BUG BUG 2015 3 Ford VAL VAL VEN VEN BRH BRH TOU TOU UMB UMB ZOL ZOL 7th 572 2017 Toyota VAL VAL BRH BRH VEN HOC FRA ZOL 4th 580 Ford VEN HOC FRA ZOL 2018 Toyota VAL VAL FRA FRA BRH BRH TOU TOU HOC HOC ZOL ZOL 1st 503 2022 RDV Competition 3 Chevy ESP ESP GBR GBR ITA ITA CZE CZE BEL BEL CRO CRO 5th 367

K&N Pro Series East

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts Ref 2016 Precision Performance Motorsports 46 Toyota NSM28 MOB GRE BRI VIR DOM STA COL NHA IOW GLN GRE NJM DOV 58th 16

Season still in progress

References

External links Official website of Ulysse Delsaux