Ulysse Delsaux (born 22 September 1997 in Troyes) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (formerly known as Racecar Euro Series and Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series) is an official NASCAR stock-car racing series based in Europe. It is one of NASCAR's three international-sanctioned series, alongside the ...

, driving the No. 10

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro ...

for RDV Competition in both the EuroNASCAR PRO and the EuroNASCAR 2 class. He is a one-time champion in the Euro Series, having won the EuroNASCAR 2 championship in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Racing career

Delsaux made his

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

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

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

, signing a contract to compete in the Elite 2 class with RDV Competition. He finished 9th in the championship with a best finish of fourth in the second race at

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. Delsaux was transferred to the No. 3 team as the Elite 2 partner of

Frédéric Gabillon Frédéric Gabillon (born 27 March 1976 in Uzès) is a French professional racing driver that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet SS for RDV Competition in the EuroNASCAR PRO class. He is a three-time ...

for the 2015 season. He finished the season in 7th in the championship with 1 podium finish in the second race at

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

, two Top-5 finishes, and a total of 10 Top-10 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 9th in points with 6 Top-10 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 Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, 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 1 win, 6 podiums, and 10 Top-10 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 Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

and

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, ...

, Delsaux started his playoff run with his third victory at the season at the Saturday race in

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 3 wins, 6 podiums, and 10 Top-10 finishes. Delsaux returned to the Elite 1 class in 2019 to replace

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes full-time in the Superstar Racing Experience, driving the No. 18 car. L ...

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 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

title in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

. He finished 9th in points with 1 Top-5 and 4 Top-10 finishes. For the 2020 season, Delsaux is scheduled to race in both the EuroNASCAR PRO and the EuroNASCAR 2 class. He is also going to run the No. 10 instead of the No. 36, stating that he wants to run the number as a way to represent

Aube Aube () is a French department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),department.

Personal life

Delsaux was diagnosed with

high-functioning autism High-functioning autism (HFA) is an autism classification where a person exhibits no intellectual disability, but may exhibit deficits in communication, emotion recognition and expression, and social interaction. HFA is not included in either t ...

early in his life. 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 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. 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 Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

and Jim Clark. He is known to be a fan of

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

and his helmet currently features an illustration of

Sinon In Greek mythology, Sinon (Ancient Greek: Σίνων, from the verb "σίνομαι"—''sinomai'', "to harm, to hurt") or Sinopos, was a Greek warrior during the Trojan War. Family Sinon was the son of Aesimus, son of Autolycus. He was the ...

from ''

Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the then-near future and focuses on protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various vir ...

'' 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.

Whelen Euro Series - EuroNASCAR 2

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.) Season still in progress

References

External links

Official website of Ulysse Delsaux
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delsaux, Ulysse 1997 births Living people French racing drivers NASCAR drivers Sportspeople from Troyes People on the autism spectrum