Vittorio Ghirelli is happy with what he and Team Bleekemolen achieved in NASCAR GP Germany despite losing a victory due to an accidental use of a non-compliant air filter.
Team Bleekemolen’s Vittorio Ghirelli might have his win in the Saturday race of NASCAR GP Germany snatched away after an accidental usage of a non-compliant part in his car, but the Italian remains happy with his results.
Ghirelli was seemingly untouchable during the first few days of running at Oschersleben. He was the fastest in both Free Practice sessions and claimed a front row start in Qualifying despite some difficulties with his car’s differential.
The differential issues caused some trouble in the early stages of the first EuroNASCAR PRO race that followed, but the problems faded away as the conditions got hotter and the driver from Fasano was able to take the checkered flag by 2.651 seconds from Paul Jouffreau.
However, prior to the race, Team Bleekemolen had been doing some maintenance work to the No. 72 infitto.eu Toyota Camry. At some point during the weekend the mechanics changed the air filter in Ghirelli’s car and unbeknownst to them, the replacement part was not provided by Team FJ themselves.
This happened because that specific air filter was a 2021-spec part that they had been keeping in the inventory. No one in Team Bleekemolen realized that they had accidentally used the wrong part in the car and they only discovered it when the stewards noticed it during the post-race technical inspections.
Eventually, it was announced on Sunday morning that Ghirelli will receive a 3-place position drop penalty. The penalty dropped him down to fourth place while Jouffreau, a non-factor in the overall championship battle, was declared as the winner in the final results.
“It’s hard to comment on a weekend like this,” said Ghirelli on the penalty in Race 1. “On one hand, I’m really happy with what we showed. We were the fastest in every session, but carelessness took away a well deserved victory.”
“We lost seven points in the championship, but we had a mega season and now we are there, just four points from the top. The guys on the team after Race 1 were really sorry, but we are a team. We always win and lose together.”
Ghirelli completed his weekend with another fourth place result in Race 2. He was unable to find a way past Anthony Kumpen, who beat him in the start and ran a pace that was strong enough to be unchallenged for the rest of the race.
The results from Oschersleben meant that Ghirelli is credited with 281 points after his two worst results were dropped. With 176 points on the line in the double points paying finale at Zolder, he believes that he had what it takes to beat Gianmarco Ercoli and win the EuroNASCAR championship title in 2023.
“I wanted to give them a good result in Race 2 but there was little in overtaking there,” said the 29-year old driver in his official release. “On the other hand, we took home another fourth place which is worth gold for our championship hopes. Now Zolder awaits us. Two races, double the points and just four points to make up!”
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