With round 9 at the Raceway Venray, the regular season of the NASCAR Whelen Euros Series ended. The only oval in 2019 was a new experience for most of the drivers in both Elite 1 and Elite 2. Memphis Racing came to the Netherlands with the Camaro #23 of Henri Tuomaala on P1 in the Challenger Trophy and of Ian Eric Wadén on P2 in the Legends Trophy.
The track in Venray is the shortest one in the 2019 season with 0.88km respectively half a mile. At the same time it is one if the physically most demanding tracks. “There is no possibility to relax, you have to stay concentrated all the time”, said Ian Eric Wadén in an interview with Threewide. “It’s fun, but surprisingly exhausting.”
As there was only one race per division at Venray, all sessions of one division took place on only one day. For Wadén the free practice was not only his first contact with an oval, but also with an oval in the rain. “Before I arrived here I didn’t know that we Europeans are so crazy to race on a wet oval.”
In the qualifying of the Elite 2 Wadén had the 13th fastest time, just behind the second Finn Jesse Vartiainen and Justin Kunz. At the beginning of the race, Wadén had problems with the engine and was forced to retire in lap 14. Luckily for his teammate Tuomaala, it was an electronical problem, which the team could fix for his race on Sunday. Despite his bad luck, Wadén managed to be on P3 in the Legends Trophy. After the joker race, the worst result in this season, had been erased, Wadén still is on P2 in the Legends Trophy, 11 points behind Michael Bleekemolen and 2 points in front of Mirco Schultis.
Just like his teammate Wadén, Henri Tuomaala had no experience in ovals. In the qualifying he had the 16th fastest lap time. The qualifying in the Elite 1 was pretty close, the first 19 drivers had been separated by less than 0.9 seconds. During the race Tuomaala could benefit from the first caution as he received the free pass, being the last car that had been lapped. Due to all the cautions, the whole field has been moved together again and again. With a clean race, Tuomaala could stay in front of Dario Caso, securing himself another Top10-finish on P10 as well as another victory in the Challenger Trophy. “My race was quite ok. In my opinion P10 overall was really good. The speed could have been better, but it was more difficult to drive than expected, although there are basically only two turns. It was difficult to find the right lines and to not find the car in the wall”, said Tuomaala in an interview with Threewide. After his first contact with an oval, he still prefers the normal road courses. “For me, the road courses are more fun. This is so new, you have to practice properly in order to be competitive.”
After the weekend in Venray, Henri Tuomaala is still on P1 in the Challenger Trophy in front of Dario Caso. With the joker race, his lead shrank from 27 to 22 points. During the next 4 races drivers will receive double points, so the Trophy is still quite open. With Hockenheim and Zolder two tracks are cming which are not new to Tuomaala. In his debut in Hockenheim in 2018 he was able to finish in the Top10.
