Vladimoros Tziortzis is in ninth place after the opening race of the season in Spain in the PRO category of the NASCAR Euro Series.

“If luck had been on my side, for the engine to withstand such oil temperatures, the results would have been better. The important thing is that we proved that we are in the top-5 of the championship and we will return to Italy in the positions we deserve,” the Cypriot driver said.

The action for Vladimiros Tziortzis at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia started off ideally, as with his new car, the HTFX Ford Mustang V8 and in his first appearance with his new team, SPEEDHOUSE, he recorded the best times on Thursday, along with Paul Jouffreau and Liam Hezemans.

On Friday, in the official tests, the oil temperature rose to 140 degrees, which should normally be up to 100-110. “The team tried to solve the problem but we had to change the engine, which is not possible as you need time to make the shakedown. Nevertheless, we managed and had from the 6th to the 8th best times.”

Based on the new qualifying method the drivers were divided into five groups of five drivers each and each driver only did two laps, unlike last year, when they had a 15-minute time slot and then the top ten for another five minutes.

Tziortzis was in the third group, with the oil temperature getting worse, reaching 160-170 degrees. “When the oil temperature is high, the engine does not perform as it should,” explains Tziortzis and adds: “I was 12th in the timed race and started from that position in Saturday’s race. 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.”

Having the sixth fastest time in the first race, Tziortzis started from sixth place on Sunday, in the second race. “Unfortunately I was on the outside as a result of which the drivers on the inside had an advantage, for the first and second corners which were left-handed. So, I lost six places as I didn’t have room to get on the inside in the first three turns and was able to finish 11th with the oil temperature back at 170″.

The next race is in Italy at the Autodromo di Vallelunga on the weekend of May 17-18.