Rain arrived at Autodrom Most in the morning to set up an exciting Qualifying session for the NASCAR GP Czech Republic. The drivers were faced with the challenge of driving their 400 hp Pure Racing cars around the 4.212 kilometer long circuit on wet conditions. To make things even more challenging, the conditions gradually improved as the track slowly dried up. Fitting in the right type of Hoosier Racing Tires was the key and in the end, Vittorio Ghirelli will start the first EuroNASCAR PRO race from first position while Vladimiros Tziortzis edged Alberto Naska to claim a record breaking twelfth Pole Award in EuroNASCAR 2.
Ghirelli’s pace demonstrated the capabilities of the #72 Team Bleekemolen Toyota Camry after it already finished on top of Free Practice on Friday. The Italian has now won three Pole Awards in his EuroNASCAR PRO career. For Tziortzis, his performance in the mixed conditions showed why he’s the king of Qualifying. The Cypriot took his fourth Pole Position of the year in EuroNASCAR 2 and will be aiming to put his starting position to good use later in the race.
EuroNASCAR PRO
The track was still wet when the top drivers in EuroNASCAR PRO held their Qualifying session, thereby forcing every team to opt for wet tires. That didn’t matter for Vittorio Ghirelli as the Vallelunga race winner clocked the fastest lap time in the crucial Superpole session. His time of 1:54.842 was 0.419 seconds quicker than Paul Jouffreau, who continued his run of form after his impressive debut at Italy. While Jouffreau ultimately lost the pole position to Ghirelli, it was still enough for the Frenchman to top the times in the Junior Trophy ranking.
“The conditions were tricky because it was wet at the beginning but then the track started to dry,” said the Fasano native. “That’s why it was so slippery out there. I was sideways the whole lap long wrestling the car around those fast turns. We had a good car and the whole Team Bleekemolen did an amazing job. We were always fast in the races but we lacked the last tenths of a second in Qualifying. It feels so good to be back on Pole Position and we now want to keep the momentum for the races.”
Veteran drivers Anthony Kumpen and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen finished third and fourth to fill a highly experienced second row of the grid. Liam Hezemans completed the top-5 ahead of Tobias Dauenhauer, both also rounded out the top-3 positions in the Junior Trophy for drivers aged 25 and under. The German Bremotion driver was the fastest in the Qualifying session, but was unable to replicate the pace in the top-10 Superpole shootout.
The wet conditions created plenty of surprises, starting with Gianmarco Ercoli who only qualified his CAAL Racing Chevrolet in seventh place. The championship leader was ahead of Fabrizio Armetta, the only Challenger Trophy driver to advance to the Superpole. Another big surprise came from Jack Davidson as he qualified ninth in his first appearance in EuroNASCAR PRO. Vladimiros Tziortzis closed out the top-10 ahead of Ulysse Delsaux and Lucas Lasserre, both narrowly missing out on the Superpole. The top-3 in Challenger Trophy was completed by Dario Caso and Riccardo Romagnoli in 13th and 15th respectively.
EuroNASCAR 2
At American SpeedFest X in Brands Hatch, Vladimiros Tziortzis tied the record for most pole positions set by Tobias Dauenhauer. The Cypriot got his first chance of possibly breaking the record at the home race of his team Academy / Alex Caffi Motorsport in Italy, but he eventually came home empty handed. His time would come at the Czech Republic as Tziortzis mastered the drying conditions to claim his record breaking twelfth pole position in EuroNASCAR 2. He chose to run the slick Hoosier tires from the beginning and that proved to be the right call.
“It was so cool at the end,” said the Nicosia native. “At the beginning we had to make the tough decision to go out on slicks or wet tires. I made the decision to go out on slicks and it paid off. I didn’t make this right decision last time in Zolder where we fell back down the order to eighth place on the last lap of Qualifying. I just gambled and took the slick tires. We decided to bet on slick tires right from the beginning and I clocked the best time on the very last lap of this session.”
Tziortzis’ fastest time of 1:42.008 was not matched by the other competitors, but Alberto Naska came close and earned the outside of the front row with a time just 0.204 seconds slower than the polesetter. Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Jack Davidson also starred in the 20-minute Qualifying session with a spectacular performance and collected his best starting position in his young NWES career. The Brit was on fire from start to finish and placed the #48 Chevrolet in third place despite a brief trip to the gravel trap, thereby making him the fastest in the Rookie Trophy.
Recently crowned first-time winner Paul Jouffreau was fourth ahead of Gil Linster, who once again had a solid run in the mixed conditions. Patrick Schober finished sixth ahead of the fastest driver in the Legend Trophy: Roberto Benedetti. Thomas Dombrowski, eighth overall, was second in the Rookie Trophy ahead of Melvin de Groot and Michael Bleekemolen. The Team Bleekemolen duo completed the top-3 in the special classification for drivers aged 40 and above.
Valerio Marzi was the third fastest of the rookie drivers in the division in eleventh overall, just 0.050 seconds behind Michael Bleekemolen. Home crowd hero Martin Doubek had a rough day in the office and could only set the 16th fastest time in the session. The Lady Trophy was topped by Alina Loibnegger in the #99 Bremotion Chevrolet Camaro. The Austrian finished ahead of the debuting Stefani Mogorovic and the special classification’s leader Arianna Casoli. Local hero Martin Doubek faced technical issues in Qualifying with a broken gearbox lever.
The first races of the NASCAR GP Czech Republic now await the drivers in EuroNASCAR PRO and EuroNASCAR 2. Broadcast for EuroNASCAR PRO Round 7 is scheduled to begin at 13:20 CEST with EuroNASCAR 2 Round 7 following at 17:00 CEST. All races will be broadcast live on EuroNASCAR’s YouTube channel, Motorsport.tv and several TV services from all around the world.
EuroNASCAR PRO Results | EuroNASCAR 2 Results
NWES PR
