“It was something new as I came from Formula 3 and 4,” said Vladimios Tziortzis, who is the first ever race car driver from Cyprus to enter the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. In his rookie season in EuroNASCAR 2, the 22-year-old had to adapt his driving style to the unfiltered V8 beasts of the NWES, but he fell in love with them and proved to be competitive from the very first turn.
“My goal was to score consistent results and to score maximum points at every race weekend,” explained Tziortzis, who first drove the car in the Driver Recruitment Program in December 2019 and made his NASCAR debut in the virtual world competing in the EuroNASCAR Esports Series.
In his first EuroNASCAR 2 season, the Alex Caffi Motorsports / Race Art Technology driver amassed 4 top-5 and 8 top-10 results, ending up fourth in the overall standings and second in the Rookie Trophy.
His best result was a second place in the EuroNASCAR Finals at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. The Cypriot then confirmed his strong pace in the last race of the season with another podium finish in third place. Valencia’s Super Speedweek was a real challenge for the 22-year-old.
“It was a nice event but at the same time it was very tough with the back-to-back races and double points on the line in the last two rounds,” he said. “The mental and physical shape of the drivers was really important throughout the Super Speedweek. For me personally, everything went well and I managed to score some solid results.”
Driving the first ever EuroNASCAR season is a special year for a young driver as he collects a lot of memories. Tziortzis remembers his personal highlight of the 2020 EuroNASCAR 2 season: “It is the Saturday afternoon in Valencia, the first race of the EuroNASCAR Finals. I finished second overall and stepped on the podium for the very first time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. I really thank my team for all the hard work all guys did this season.”
In the end, Tziortzis was satisfied with his debut campaign: “I achieved the goal to be consistent in all races and scored podium finishes. I only ended up outside of the top-10 two times.” The Cypriot has not revealed his plans for 2021 yet, but if he’s coming back to NWES he will surely be a driver to keep an eye on in the EuroNASCAR 2 title battle.
