| Nicolò Rocca | |
| Nationality: |  Italian |
| Birth Date: | 14 December 1993 |
| Birth Place: | Turin, Piedmont, Italy |
| Current Series: | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series |
| First Year: | 2013 |
| Current Team: | CAAL Racing |
| Car Number: | 56 |
| Starts: | 97 (EuroNASCAR PRO) |
| Wins: | 5 (EuroNASCAR PRO) |
| Poles: | 9 (EuroNASCAR PRO) |
| Podiums: | 20 (EuroNASCAR PRO) |
| Fastest Laps: | 7 (EuroNASCAR PRO) |
| Best Finish: | 3rd |
| Year: | 2019 (PRO) |
| Last Finish: | 4th in 2022 |
| Prev Series: | Formula Renault |
| Prev Series Years: | 2011-12 |
Nicolò Rocca (born 14th December 1993 in Turin.[1]) is an Italian professional racing driver that competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving most recently the No. 56 Chevrolet Camaro for CAAL Racing in the EuroNASCAR PRO class. His best result in the series is a 3rd place in 2019,[2] at the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro of PK Carsport.
Rocca started his racing career in 2002 with karting. During his karting career, he raced across Italy and Europe, culminating with a KF3 season in 2008. He made his car racing debut in 2010, racing in Formula BMW in the 2010 Formula Lista Junior season for Daltec Racing, scoring multiple podiums.
In 2011 he graduated to Formula Renault, racing in the Alps championship, for Interwetten Racing, with a best result of 3rd in the opening round in Monza. Rocca's experience in Formula Renault continued in 2012, racing for GSK this time,[3] in the Italian championship.
In 2013 Rocca switched to stock cars, taking part to his first NASCAR Whelen Euro championship in the PRO class, racing for Scorpus Racing. In 2014, he joined Caal Racing on the No.25 Chevrolet,[4] finishing the season with a win at the Bologna Motorshow race,[5] in December.
2015 was the breakthrough year for Rocca, which did see him scoring 4 pole positions in the first 4 races of the season, securing the best ever average qualifying position of the series, against teammates Alon Day and Eddie Cheever. He secured 3 wins and 6 podiums, which left him as the main title contender against Ander Vilarino[6] going into the last race of the year in Zolder. A controversial contact with the local hero Anthony Kumpen hampered Rocca's chances to secure his first title.
Rocca returned to the wheel of the No.56 Chevrolet Camaro of Caal Racing in 2016, finishing the season in 4th.[7]
After only racing part time in 2017 and 2018, Rocca joined PK Carsport full time for the 2019 season, onboard of the No.24 Chevrolet Camaro.[8] [9] Rocca scored the first podium of the season in Brands Hatch, after a race long battle with Alon Day and Stienes Longin, for then securing the first pole position and win[10] with the new team in Most. Further podiums in Venray[11] and in Hockenheimring left Rocca as the main title contender of Loris Hezemans getting into the last weekend of the season,[12] which he eventually ended 3rd[13] after a luck-less last race.
For 2020, Rocca joined the Austrian team DF1 Racing,[14] managing to bring the No.22 Chevrolet on the podium multiple times,[15] continuing with them in 2021,[16] and finishing the 2021 season in 4th[17]
In 2022 Rocca re-joined Caal Racing No.56 Chevrolet Camaro, starting off the season with a pole position and win in Valencia.[18] Rocca ended leading the championship for most of the 2022 season,[19] ending the season in 4th.
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Formula Lista Junior | Daltec Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 9th | |
| 2011 | Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series | Daltec Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 21st | |
| Formula 2000 Light | Daltec-Interwetten | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | ||
| 2012 | Formula Renault 2.0 Italia | GSK Grand Prix | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 30th | |
| 2013 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite | Scorpus Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 403 | 14th | |
| 2014 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1 | CAAL Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 482 | 13th | |
| NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 44th | |||
| 2015 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1 | CAAL Racing | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 561 | 9th | |
| 2016 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1 | CAAL Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 553 | 4th | |
| 2018 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1 | CAAL Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 154 | 25th | |
| 2019 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1 | PK Carsport | 13 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 499 | 3rd | |
| 2020 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – EuroNASCAR Pro | DF1 Racing | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 317 | 9th | |
| 2021 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – EuroNASCAR Pro | DF1 Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 394 | 4th | |
| 2022 | NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – EuroNASCAR Pro | CAAL Racing | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | NC | NC |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(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.)| NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - EuroNASCAR PRO results | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pts | |||
| 2013 | Scorpus Racing | 19 | Chevy | NOG | NOG | DIJ | DIJ | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | MNZ | MNZ | BUG | BUG | 14th | 403 | |||
| 2014 | CAAL Racing | 25 | Chevy | VAL | VAL | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | NÜR | NÜR | UMB | UMB | BUG | BUG | 13th | 483 | |||
| 2015 | 56 | VAL | VAL | VEN | VEN | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | UMB | UMB | ZOL | ZOL | 9th | 561 | |||||
| 2016 | VAL | VAL | VEN | VEN | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | ADR | ADR | ZOL | ZOL | 4th | 553 | ||||||
| 2018 | VAL | VAL | FRA | FRA | BRH | BRH | TOU | TOU | HOC | HOC | ZOL | ZOL | 25th | 154 | ||||||
| 2019 | PK Carsport | 24 | Chevy | VAL | VAL | FRA | FRA | BRH | BRH | MOS | MOS | VEN | HOC | HOC | ZOL | ZOL | 3rd | 499 | ||
| 2020 | DF1 Racing | 22 | Chevy | ITA | ITA | BEL | BEL | CRO | CRO | ESP1 | ESP1 | ESP2 | ESP2 | 9th | 317 | |||||
| 2021 | ESP | ESP | GBR | GBR | CZE | CZE | CRO | CRO | BEL | BEL | ITA | ITA | 4th | 394 | ||||||
| 2022 | CAAL Racing | 56 | Chevy | VAL | VAL | GBR | GBR | ITA | ITA | CZE | CZE | BEL | BEL | CRO | CRO | 4th | 374 | |||