After a strong round at Autodrom Most, Vladimiros Tziortzis is optimistic for the EuroNASCAR Playoffs as the double points system will give the Cypriot a shot at the title.
Vladimiros Tziortzis faced another challenging weekend at Autodrom Most, but the Cypriot remains optimistic as he knew that a lot of ground can be made in the double points Playoff rounds at Oschersleben and Zolder.
Tziortzis’ NASCAR GP Czech Republic weekend started on a positive note during Friday Practice, where he finished tenth in the combined timesheets.
Additional speed was found by him and the Academy Motorsport team during Saturday’s Qualifying, but they couldn’t capitalize on that due to an unlucky encounter with Club Motorsport’s Riccardo Romagnoli on their final flying lap attempt.
“I was seventh, but on the last lap I was blocked by Italian Riccardo Romagnoli and couldn’t complete my best lap, so I fell to eleventh” said Tziortzis on the press release that was released by Cyprus Mail.
Race 1 followed next and Tziortzis ran well to finish ninth on the track. However, he made contact with SpeedHouse’s Ulysse Delsaux that sent Delsaux into a half-spin.
Race control deemed Tziortzis to be at fault and gave him a five-second time penalty that dropped him down to eleventh, a decision that the 27-year old driver disagreed with as he believed that he had no room to avoid Delsaux.
“I then finished ninth but after a contact with Delsaux, who braked too quickly and I didn’t have time to react,” explained Tziortzis. “I received a two-place penalty, because when two cars touch, the one behind is at fault.”
He started Race 2 from inside the top-10, but things went awry quickly when he found himself in the middle of the big crash that eliminated Delsaux, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Fabrizio Armetta and Thomas Dombrowski from the race.
Tziortzis shot for the gap on the left, but Lux Motorsport’s Liam Lambert also chose the same gap. Both drivers made contact, but thankfully they only suffered bodywork damage and were able to take the restart.
“I avoided damage as much as I could,” spoke the Cypriot about the start crash in Race 2. “I couldn’t see in front of me and had to choose which side to take and I ended up taking the left.”
“As soon as I chose it, Liam Lambert crashed into me and as a result my bumpers broke. There was a red flag because there were a lot of damaged cars. We taped all the bumpers to hold so that I could somehow finish the race.”
Now with three empty slots in front of him, the driver of the No. 1 HTFX Ford Mustang took advantage of the situation to get himself involved in the race-long battle for the podium.
Unfortunately, the bodywork damage was severe enough to disrupt the car’s aerodynamic balance. Tziortzis fought hard to keep his car on the track and went on to finish eighth, which surprisingly was his best finish of the season.
“At the restart I was seventh and I was in that position for a long time, but when the bumpers are not stable, you lose [a lot of speed] on the straight since they cut the air so much,” adds Tziortzis.
The combination of good results and dropping his worst result – a 25th place DNF at Vallelunga 2 – were enough to move Tziortzis up to a joint twelfth in the overall championship.
Tziortzis did have a 90 point deficit to championship leader Vittorio Ghirelli, but he knew that Playoffs will make or break a driver’s season thanks to the double points format that affected everyone on the grid.
The Cypriot had already experienced the heartbreak aspect of the Playoffs in 2023 and now he’s optimistic that this year’s Playoffs will be the one that makes his season.
“In the general classification, I’m twelfth and if the two worst results are removed, I’m already in the top ten,” said Tziortzis, referring to the championship format from 2021-2023 where the worst two results were dropped instead of just one.
“From Germany and Belgium the points are doubled. Our difference with the first one is about 50-60 points and the result can be overturned, as it was overturned with me last year.”
“I was 40 points ahead in the lead and in the end I lost the championship due to mechanical failures. Everything is open, the title remains possible and the top three is even more so.”
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Last Updated: 29 December 2024