Vladimiros Tziortzis talks about his experience in the NASCAR Oval GP at Raceway Venray, reminiscing on how tough and unpredictable short track oval racing really is.
Vladimiros Tziortzis experienced his first taste of oval racing when he raced Academy Motorsport‘s No. 1 HTFX Ford Mustang in the 2024 NASCAR Oval GP at Raceway Venray.
With oval racing requiring a completely different skill set compared to road course racing, he was happy that he managed to get out of Venray with a strong result and an undamaged car.
“The oval is unpredictable,” said Tziortzis on how the race weekend went, as written in the press release published by Cyprus Mail.
“It was a survival race and we managed it with important points that help us to remove the misfortunes of past races.”
With no prior oval experience, a steep learning curve was expected for Tziortzis when he first hit the track on Sunday morning for the Free Practice sessions.
Adding to the challenge is that drivers in EuroNASCAR PRO were greeted with a damp track, the result of an overnight rain at Venray. While the track was drying, it was still wet enough that drivers had to use the wet Hoosier tires for the first Practice session.
Despite this, Tziortzis handled the situation well. When slicks became viable in the second session, the Cypriot set a best lap time of 19.874 that was enough for sixth in the combined times.
“I was able to get straight into the rhythm with my first contact on the 800m oval track,” said Tziortzis on the Practice sessions.
“I came out to the track sixth from the end, which was a very good position but the advantage was definitely on the top-three drivers [Paul Jouffreau, Gianmarco Ercoli, and Vittorio Ghirelli] as the track dried more.”
The good pace continued on Qualifying, with a time of 19.887 placing him eighth on the grid for the race. However, this puts him on the inside lane, the disadvantageous line at Venray.
Tziortzis knew that being on the inside would hinder him and his fears came true when the race got underway. He got gobbled up by outside lane starters Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Thomas Krasonis in the opening laps, dropping him down to tenth.
From then, it was a matter of survival as he fought with the likes of Krasonis, Victor Neumann, Tobias Dauenhauer and Thomas Toffel for the majority of the race.
Unfortunately, a miscommunication resulted in Tziortzis choosing the wrong lane for the late restart. With the Cypriot stuck behind the lapped car of Gordon Barnes, he was only able to finish twelfth at the checkered flag.
“I was starting from the inside lane, which is the slowest,” said Tziortzis on how the race went. “The plan was to get to the top lane as quickly as possible. I did that, but not before we lost two or three places.”
“I fought throughout the race for eighth place until the Safety Car came out. They gave us a restart, but my spotter was wrongly told to take the inside line for the restart. We lost places and finished twelfth.”
While the end result was not what he had hoped for, Tziortzis was able to take plenty of positives on his thrilling first oval racing experience at Venray.
“I’m happy with myself,” said Tziortzis. “I withstood constant pressure for 103 laps, making overtaking from the outside and we had no damage.”
“The fact that my times were good on an oval is a very positive sign, as I only had three sessions to get the feel of the oval.”
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