Vittorio Ghirelli and Vladimiros Tziortzis opened their NASCAR GP France with the fastest laps set in practice – Drivers utilized the session to learn the Circuit Paul Ricard for the upcoming qualifying and races

• V8GP leader Vittorio Ghirelli leads the opening day of NASCAR GP France
• Vladimiros Tziortzis made his mark with a dominant time in OPEN 
• Circuit Paul Ricard presented the drivers with plenty of challenges

Circuit Paul Ricard served as the new battleground for the NASCAR Euro Series on its return to their home country of France. For the first time since 2018, the NASCAR GP France is in the calendar and drivers from V8GP and OPEN were faced with the challenge to master the 5.822 kilometer circuit in the practice sessions held on Friday. After two 30-minute sessions, Vittorio Ghirelli showed his dominance by leading the combined V8GP times with Vladimiros Tziortzis setting the benchmark in the OPEN division. The Italian and the Cypriot therefore have the early advantage for the intense and thrilling qualifying and races that will come on Saturday.

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V8GP: Vittorio Ghirelli in front of two talented rookies

Practice went perfectly for Vittorio Ghirelli, who entered the NASCAR GP France as the championship leader after his winning performance in Spain. The Italian left his rivals in the dust after he topped the times in both sessions. After doing a combined total of 18 laps, Ghirelli’s time of 2:13.520 was unmatched by his rivals, but the driver of the #24 PK Carsport Chevrolet was followed closely by two highly talented rookies of V8GP: Jordan O’Brien and Vinnie Meskelis.

O’Brien and Meskelis drove like experienced veterans, setting a lap time that was within two thenths of a second of two-time champion Ghirelli on just their second V8GP round. The two Americans completed 20 and 21 laps respectively, giving them a great benchmark for the sessions that are coming next in Circuit Paul Ricard. Meskelis also topped the Junior Trophy rankings for drivers aged 25 and under with Trophy rival Thomas Krasonis finishing just behind in fourth.

Making in the top-5 positions is Davit Kajaia, who greatly impressed in the Kolkhi GRT machine. The Georgian put the spotlight on him with a time of 2:14.729 that was enough for securing the top spot in the Challenger Trophy for elite amateurs. Fabrizio Armetta was sixth ahead of Garrett Lowe, who bounced back from a mechanical issue in the first session to finish seventh and claim third place in the Junior Trophy.

Jeroen Bleekemolen started his V8GP journey with a strong eighth place finish. Martin Doubek and Vladimiros Tziortzis completed the top-10 with Kenko Miura and Giovanni Cartechini rounding the Challenger Trophy top-3 in 18th and 19th positions. Mechanical problems greatly hampered the progress of Paul Jouffreau and Gianmarco Ercoli, who was sidelined on both sessions while the mechanics from RDV Competition and Alumitec Racing worked hard to find the core of their issues before Saturday’s important decider.

OPEN: Vladimiros Tziortzis one second ahead

No one was able to stay alongside Vladimiros Tziortzis, who put his past experience in Le Castellet on open wheel racing to great effect. The Cypriot dominated the OPEN times with a blisteringly hot time of 2:14.176 onboard the #6 Speedhouse Ford Mustang, more than a second clear of his closest rival: OPEN championship leader Thomas Toffel. Toffel still put himself in a great position as the Swiss driver aimed for his third consecutive victory following his sweep in Spain.

Sandro Tavartkiladze matched the impressive performance of his countryman Kajaia by putting up the third best lap time and topped the Master Trophy. Claudio Cappelli was troubled with an issue in the second session, but the Italian’s rapid pace in the first session was enough for fourth overall and first in the Legend Trophy classification for drivers aged 45 and above. Gil Linster completed the top-5, validating his performance in the season opener in Spain.

Beitske Visser was on a mission during practice. Not only did Visser beat her Lady Trophy rivals with an excellent sixth place finish, she also completed 26 laps across both sessions, the most out of anyone across both V8GP and OPEN. Martin Doubek, Thomas Dombrowski, Jens Beeusaert and Melvin de Groot rounded the top-10 positions. This result was enough for Beeusaert and de Groot to finish second in the Master and Legend Trophy respectively.

Kenko Miura and Ossi Pohjanharju filled the top-3 positions for Legend and Master Trophy in 11th and 12th while Mariam Davitidze and Happinessa Racing engaged in a thrilling back-and-forth duel for second in Lady Trophy. Davitidze won out in the end, finishing her day 16th with Happinessa only one position behind. Ercoli’s issues in V8GP also extended to Raphael Lessard, who was unable to set a lap in the opening day of NASCAR GP France.

With experience gained from the practice sessions, the gladiators of V8GP and OPEN will put their focus to fine tune their roaring V8 machines for qualifying, which is scheduled to go live at 09:00 CEST on Saturday. The results from qualifying set the grid for the first races in Le Castellet, with V8GP starting first at 13:35 CEST before OPEN lined up for their showdown at 18:00 CEST. Stay up to date with NASCAR Euro Series’ official website and social media accounts for the latest updates and find out where you can watch the NASCAR GP France from www.nascar.eu/watch.

Featured image by NASCAR Euro Series / Bart Dehaese