Vladimiros Tziortzis spoke about his goal to chase for a top-3 championship finish after a strong performance in the 2025 NASCAR GP Germany.
Cypriot star Vladimiros Tziortzis is confident that he can fight for the overall top-3 championship positions in the EuroNASCAR Finals after a strong outing in the NASCAR GP Germany at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
The good results did not come easy for Tziortzis. A spin in Qualifying – where he took part in the more advantageous second group – due to oil dropped Fabrizio Armetta in the first group left Tziortzis down in 19th for the grid in Race 1.
“During Qualifying, a car [in the group] ahead of me was losing a massive amount of engine oil,” explained Tziortzis on social media. “A big amount of it was at the fastest corner of the track.”
“I was the first one passing there and the car didn’t turn at all. The tarmac was full of engine oil. As a result, I headed to the barriers nose first and luckily the car spun as soon as I touched the gravel.”
Fortunately for Tziortzis, his Qualifying issues turned out to be a blessing. The lowly starting position allowed him to avoid the massive crash at the first corner unscathed.
While engine temperature issues nearly caused a premature retirement, Tziortzis was able to keep the No. 64 HTFX Ford running to seventh at the checkered flag.
“We made it up to seventh after the crash,” said Tziortzis. “The engine & water oil temperatures went to the max and the engine light indicator turned on for 11 laps, but I’m glad to make it to the finish line.”
After the race, SpeedHouse mechanics worked hard to fix the issues overnight. However, a new issue popped up when Tziortzis tested the car in Sunday’s warm-up session and it persisted to the race later that day.
“I decided to do the warm up session on Sunday morning to make sure that the car is ready for the second race in the afternoon,” said Tziortzis.
“However, I heard a strange sound of wheelspin after each upshift. My team immediately checked the clutch and the differential, but nothing was found. However, we decided to put in a new clutch just in case.”
“Unfortunately the strange sound of wheel spinning during upshifts was not fixed and on the start, a driver [Kenko Miura] used the grass in order to overtake three drivers in the first corner.”
“He slid into my left front bumper, which got damaged. Luckily, it went off from my car in the middle of the race, but it damaged my brakes and the pedal became hard until the end.”
Tziortzis will be entering the Finals at Zolder with a 72 point deficit to championship leader Vittorio Ghirelli. He ruled out the possibility of battling for the title, but he is confident that third place is still on the offer.
As a reference, Gianmarco Ercoli currently sits third with a 54 points advantage to Tziortzis, who is ninth in the standings.
“For my part, I’m pleased as we covered a lot of ground from the third, which means that we are in the game even for third place in the overall standings,” adds Tziortzis in his press release to Cyprus Mail.
“Preparation with the team follows. All components will be changed and new ones will be installed, so that we can be sure that mechanically everything will be new in Belgium.”
“Now it’s time for the strategy game so that we can claim third place in Belgium, where the weather, like every year in the Finals, is expected to play its role.”
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