Ulysse Delsaux

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 6 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 5 years old. , he still had to make a monthly visit with a doctor in Paris.

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