Persistent oil temperature issues hampered Vladimiros Tziortzis during his first race with SpeedHouse at the 2025 Valencia NASCAR Fest.
Vladimiros Tziortzis revealed that his first race appearance with SpeedHouse was plagued with persistent oil temperature issues.
In a report made by Leo Leonidou from Cyprus Mail, the Cypriot said that he was “really fortunate” to not have his engine blow up from the soaring oil temperature in his No. 64 HTFX Ford Mustang.
According to Cyprus Mail, the car initially performed well in Thursday’s Prologue. However, on Friday Tziortzis noticed that the oil temperature rose up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 °C). Those numbers are 30-40 degrees more than the normal temperature of 100-110 degrees (37-43 °C).
He reported the situation to the SpeedHouse mechanics, who were alarmed by the situation. A dilemma then came up: SpeedHouse has a spare engine for Tziortzis, but they have yet to test that unit during the pre-season.
Faced with the choice of running an untested spare engine or praying that the original engine doesn’t explode, SpeedHouse made the tough decision to go with the latter.
“The team tried to solve the problem but we had to change the engine,” said Tziortzis to Cyprus Mail. “That is not possible as you need time to make the shakedown. Nevertheless, we managed and were sixth in the best times.”
The engine situation worsened on Saturday because the oil temperature continued to rise. Tziortzis said he finished his Saturday race with the oil gauge reading 170 degrees (76 °C) and admits that he’s lucky to not have the engine blown up.
“I was 12th in the Qualifying and started from that position in Saturday’s race,” continued Tziortzis. “I finished eighth in the first race with the oil temperature reaching 170 degrees at the finish. Really fortunate the engine didn’t break down.”
Even with the alarmingly high oil temperatures, the No. 64 HTFX Ford Mustang had enough life to set the sixth best lap time.
It meant that Tziortzis was able to start Race 2 from sixth on the grid. Unfortunately, a combination of persisting oil issues and a bad start relegated the 28-year old down to 11th at the finish.
“I was starting on the outside,” said Tziortzis. “The drivers on the inside had an advantage because the first and second corners were left-handed.”
“So, I lost six places as I didn’t have room to get on the inside in the first three turns. In the end I was able to finish 11th with the oil temperature back at 170.”
In spite of the issues, Tziortzis is happy with the potential of the SpeedHouse package for 2025. The Cypriot believes that under ideal circumstances, he will be able to finish the season in the top-5.
“If luck had been on my side, for the engine to withstand such oil temperatures, the results would have been better,” concludes Tziortzis.
“The important thing is that we proved that we are in the top-5 of the championship. We will return to Italy in the positions we deserve.”
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