Autosport Plus

The F1 nearly-man winding back the clock in NASCAR’s European cousin

A multiple F3000 race winner, Marc Goossens was on the precipice of making Formula 1 in the 1990s - but a lack of budget left him without a path to the promised land. Turning to an illustrious racing career in sportscars, Goossens left the endurance circuit to try his hand at racing stock cars - and now calls the NASCAR Euro Series home

James Newbold Jul 1, 2021, 10:53 AM

Upd: Jul 3, 2021, 2:02 AM

After a year’s enforced absence due to COVID-19, Euro NASCAR roars back onto UK soil this weekend to a soundtrack of throbbing 5.7-litre V8 engines at Brands Hatch’s American SpeedFest. To say that plenty has changed in the world at large since its last visit in June 2019 would be an understatement, but the calibre of drivers competing at the sharp end certainly hasn’t.

Its leading light is three-time series champion Alon Day, who notched up his latest title in last year’s pandemic-afflicted season of five rounds packed between September and December, while the returning series regulars include 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Belgian veteran Marc Goossens, who 30 years ago marked himself out as a name to watch by winning a typically frantic Formula Ford Festival.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.