The Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia is the traditional venue to kick off the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season and one driver in particular has a wonderful relationship with the challenging 4.005 kilometer track: Vladimiros Tziortzis. After his maiden EuroNASCAR 2 win in 2022, the Cypriot was back in Victory Lane to snatch the victory in the first race of the season. The Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport driver made a brilliant start and dominated the 15-lap long race under the bursting sun of Spain.
2022 EuroNASCAR 2 runner-up Alberto Naska stated that Tziortzis is “not known for having good starts” and the Italian therefore hoped to jump from the second row of the grid to the front, but the CAAL Racing driver was proven wrong. Tziortzis had a perfect jump when the lights turned green and built a solid gap on his chaser to lead every single lap of EuroNASCAR 2 Round 1. “Especially in this race, he made a good start,” said Naksa after the race, respecting the strong performance of the 23-year-old. “He did an amazing job and was just too quick for us.”
Tziortzis celebrated wrapped with his national flag of Cyprus: “I think I did my best! We did our job like earlier this morning [in EuroNASCAR PRO], we kept pushing and stayed consistent to bring home the first place! There was an issue with the start in EuroNASCAR PRO compared to this one, but anyway this is racing and I showed today that we’re here and still rising!”
Naska ended up second at the end of a strong race by beating Paul Jouffreau, who returned to the podium after Vallelunga in the 2022 season. The RDV Competition driver did not make a single mistake and showed his talent and strong pace in the 15-lap sprint race. Gil Linster finished fourth at the wheel of the #50 Hendriks Motorsport Toyota Camry, taking advantage of Claudio Cappelli’s trip to the gravel on lap 14. After rejoining the track, Cappelli crossed the finish line in 21st place.
The battle of the race was definitely the one between 2021 EuroNASCAR 2 Champion Martin Doubek and Patrick Schober. It will for sure go down into the NWES history books as both drivers battled for the whole race, going side-by-side several times. They made contact several times but kept the battle fair and intense, in perfect tune with the EuroNASCAR “Pure Racing” motto. The two delivered an amazing show for ten-thousands of fans at Circuit Ricardo Tormo and it was Doubek who came out the winner. The Czech driver had the edge on Schober in the closing stages with his brilliant move in turn 1 on lap 14 and crossed the finish line in fifth.
Riccardo Romagnoli finished behind the two drivers in the spotlight in seventh to win the Legend Trophy for drivers aged 40 and over. He bested Roberto Benedetti for the top spot in the special classification, although Benedetti brought home the bonus points for most positions gained. Thomas Dombrowski topped the Rookie Trophy ranks in ninth right ahead of Thomas Toffel, who rounded out the overall top-10 and joined the French on the podium for newcomers in EuroNASCAR 2 alongside Nick Schneider. Arianna Casoli won the Lady Trophy in 19th.
Vict Motorsport experienced a day with a lot of messages from race control: Dario Caso was penalized twice for avoidable collision after sending Davidson and Kenko Miura off track. His teammate Paolo Valeri also got a penalty after making contact with Toffel in the early stages of the races, but the Italian was the victim of a clash with Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Nick Schneider, who was also penalized for the clash. Davidson recovered from the incident to bring home an eleventh place in his Marko Stipp Motorsport Chevrolet which was good enough for third in the Rookie Trophy.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will be back in action on Sunday, May 7, for the second day of pure racing in Valencia, Spain. The races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel, Motorsport.tv and several TV channels from around the world. With two races in the books, the battles for the championships and trophies is on and the two intense and spectacular races will delight all the Pure Racing fans of EuroNASCAR.
RESULTS: EURONASCAR PRO | EURONASCAR 2
NWES PR
