Arianna Casoli, a veteran in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, has celebrated her 100th Euro NASCAR 2 start in 2024, extending her finishing streak to 35 races and continued her record-breaking career with 48 Lady Trophy victories. Here's a summary of her season ahead of her debut in the NASCAR Brazil series this weekend.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series veteran Arianna Casoli became the first driver to reach 100 starts in the Euro NASCAR 2 division as she passed the milestone at Oschersleben in September. Casoli also extended her classified finishing streak to an exceptional 35 races in the season finale at Zolder.
The SpeedHouse Racing driver ended the campaign 19th in the final standings with a best result of 14th coming at Autodrom Most in one of her most impressive performances to date.
Casoli began her NASCAR Whelen Euro Series journey in 2016 as she made her debut with Vict Motorsport at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. She scored one top-15 result in her maiden campaign which came at Adria, while finishing inside the top-20 on seven further occasions.
Switching to CAAL Racing for 2017, Casoli broke new ground by securing her first ever top-10 finishing at Franciacorta, in addition to an 11th place result on the oval at Venray. Arianna continued with CAAL Racing in both 2018 and 2019, securing a top-15 overall championship finish in 2019 before enjoying an exceptional 2020 campaign.
Casoli broke new ground in the 2020 season as she scored a stunning top-5 finish at Zolder, while finishing all but two races inside the overall top-15. This secured her an 11th place championship finish, while ending the year as the highest Legends Trophy competitor. Arianna then added to her top-10 count in 2021 by finishing in tenth position at Autodrom Most, before switching to SpeedHouse Racing ahead of the 2022 campaign.
An expanded grid of drivers in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2022 made Casoli’s task more challenging and it was a difficult start to the season for the Italian driver as she settled in with her new team. However, she ended the year on the front foot by once again performing well at Autodrom Most, while securing a best finish of 12th at Zolder.
Remaining with the French squad for 2023, Casoli finished inside the top-20 in every event with 38 drivers scoring points across the season. Her consistency was impressive and this netted her a 16th place overall championship finish with Arianna’s best result coming at her home circuit of Vallelunga.
Continuity has been the key to Casoli’s longevity in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and thus she remained with SpeedHouse Racing for a third consecutive season in 2024. The calendar has been largely unchanged since Arianna made her debut in the series and therefore her vast experience at the majority of tracks stood her in good stead for another full campaign.
The season got underway in at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain. Casoli qualified in 23rd position and improved her lap times throughout the weekend, finding over one second from qualifying to race two. This enabled Arianna to move through the field in Valencia, finishing the opening race in 18th after a good battle with teammate Eric Quintal, before improving to 17th in race two where she challenged the CAAL Racing machine of Sven Van Laere.
Casoli’s home circuit of Vallelunga hosted the second round of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series with Arianna looking to replicate her strong results from the previous season. Issues in qualifying prevented her from reaching her potential, however Casoli bounced back in the two races which followed.
The SpeedHouse Racing driver set her personal best time on the final lap of race one as she finished in 19th position. She improved further in race two to finish in 16th place, scoring her best result of the season to date and narrowly missing out on her first top-15 of the year.
The drivers made the annual trip to the United Kingdom for round three as the 11th edition of the American Speedfest took place at Brands Hatch. The Indy circuit provides a unique test for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series competitors and it has been a track which Casoli has found challenging in previous years.
Qualifying was held in two groups due to the short circuit in an attempt to provide drivers with clean laps without the interference of traffic. Casoli’s quickest time of a 53.321 came on the final lap of the session and placed the Italian driver in 25th position. In race one, Casoli was able to improve on her qualifying time by over a second while gaining four places to take the checkered flag in 21st spot. Race two brought further encouragement for Arianna as she finished in 18th position, securing a strong lead-lap finish at Brands Hatch.
After last racing on an oval in 2018 at Tours Speedway in France, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series returned to raceway Venray in June. Another different format of qualifying was used with the best of two flying laps used to determine the grid with Casoli setting the 20th fastest time. Improving on her best time by eight tenths of a second in the 70 lap finale, Arianna had a trouble-free run on her way to an 18th place finish.
Autodrom Most hosted the fifth round of the season with Casoli targeting strong results after her previous successes in Czechia. The event got off to a challenging start with Arianna qualifying with a lap time of 1:47.400, however she excelled during both races while taking significant steps forward in performance.
In race one of the weekend, Casoli did well to negotiate an opening lap incident before driving superbly to claim her best result of the season with a 14th place finish. Arianna was consistently fighting among the midfield runners and enjoyed a close battle with French driver Florian Richard.
Her lap times were often on-par with those inside the top-10 and this gave her confidence heading into race two. However, misfortune struck as Casoli received contact and spun into the gravel, however she was able to rejoin and finish in 19th position.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series playoffs began at Oschersleben in Germany with Casoli aiming to make further progress in the final two events of the year. The SpeedHouse Racing driver qualified in 22nd position and once again made considerable improvement in the two races.
Arianna finished on the lead lap in race one, taking the checkered flag in 22nd, before scoring another top-20 in race two. Casoli found two seconds of lap time improvements from qualifying to end the weekend in 20th position.
Zolder hosted the season finale and it was a further event of progress for the veteran Italian driver. Casoli set the 24th quickest time in Saturday’s qualifying session, before closing in on the midfield during the pair of races. Arianna claimed the Lady Trophy honours in race one and gained further confidence in race two as she improved her best time by over three seconds, taking the checkered flag in 24th position.
After another successful year of racing in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, Casoli will be once again looking to return to the grid in 2025. The Italian racer has been an asset to the series over the past decade and she will be aiming to extend her impressive finishing record, together with her achievement of scoring the largest number of Lady Trophy victories in the series history with an impressive 48 trophies.
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