What a way to excite the hearts of the race fans that came to Circuit Paul Ricard on Saturday morning! Home hero Paul Jouffreau will have the best seat for the first NASCAR Euro Series event in France after eight years with his heroic effort on V8GP qualifying, overcoming a lack of practice run on Friday to take his first Stromwatches.com Pole Award in 2026. The enjoyment for French fans was then doubled when Vladimiros Tziortzis, racing for the local team Speedhouse, grabbed pole position in the OPEN division. This fantastic result for the French favorites will make NASCAR GP France a must watch event for the pure action that is promised for the races.

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V8GP: No Practice? No Problem

Friday was a troubled day for Paul Jouffreau, who was sidelined with mechanical issues in both practice sessions. RDV Competition worked hard until seven o’clock on Saturday morning to fix the #3 Ford Mustang and Jouffreau repaid their favor with a qualifying to remember. Jouffreau took his time to build up speed and when the time came to go all in for Superpole, the driver from Blaye delivered. With a quick lap time of 2:14.056, the Frenchman led Junior Trophy rival Thomas Krasonis, who secured an all Junior Trophy front row with only 0.131 seconds separating the two youngsters.

“I’m just so grateful,” Jouffreau said. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t push the car to its absolute limit. Yesterday, we couldn’t even manage a single lap because we had to change the engine. The team didn’t get to sleep until 7:00 AM, meaning they didn’t even get an hour of rest. I really just want to dedicate this pole position to them; I wanted to give them a well-deserved gift, and we did it. I am incredibly grateful to the guys for working all the way through until 7:00 AM.”

Vladimiros Tziortzis charged his way to third ahead of Vinnie Meskelis, who completed the Junior Trophy top-3 in fourth. Vittorio Ghirelli and Jordan O’Brien were on course for potential pole position, but deleted lap times for track limits placed the Italian and the American in the third row of the grid. Thomas Toffel and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen rounded the top-10 ahead of Davit Kajaia, the best of the Challenger Trophy in 11th. Giovanni Cartechini and Davide Frulio trailed the Georgian driver behind in the special classification for elite amateurs on 20th and 21st respectively.

OPEN: Tziortzis Maintain His Advantage

Vladimiros Tziortzis followed up his dominant practice performance with a NASCAR GP France pole position for his French team Speedhouse. The Cypriot clocked a time of 2:14.447 to retain his lead from OPEN championship leader Thomas Toffel, who was three tenths behind the driver of the #6 Ford Mustang. It was Tziortzis’ 13th career pole position, breaking the tie that he had with Martin Doubek as the driver with the most Stromwatches.com Pole Awards in the history of the division.

“It was important especially after two and a half years where I don’t know what to say, I mean, I had bad luck, circumstances that I was not expecting,” spoke Tziortzis on his record pole position in France. “I wasn’t even sure if I would be participating next year, but I believed in the team since last year when I signed with them. I just had to be patient for the right time. The right time, I think, is already here today, officially.”

Sandro Tavartkiladze kept an eye on the outside as he seeks his first OPEN win from third in the grid. The Georgian also took top position in the Master Trophy, beating the flying Belgian Jens Beeusaert who qualified fourth on his OPEN debut – validating the potential that was shown at Rookie Challenge in Spain. Also soaring high in qualifying is Beitske Visser, who showed why she’s considered as one of the best female drivers in the world with a top-5 qualifying effort in just her second NASCAR Euro Series weekend. The Rehberg + Bremotion Racing driver also secured first place in the Lady Trophy with this stunning achievement.

Thomas Dombrowski was the fastest of the French drivers in sixth. Melvin de Groot, first in the Legend Trophy, was seventh ahead of Gil Linster, Doubek and Raphael Lessard who all advanced to the top-10 Superpole shootout. Giovanni Faraonio and Claudio Cappelli followed de Groot in the special classification for drivers aged 45 and above in 11th and 13th place. Right in between the two Legend Trophy competitors was Ossi Pohjanharju, who was third in the Master Trophy. Happinessa Racing beat Mariam Davitidze in the Lady Trophy duel, but they will have a lot of work to catch Visser from 17th and 23rd respectively.

The thundering attraction from Le Castellet has yet to reach its peak as the engines lie in wait for Round 3 of the 2026 NASCAR Euro Series season. V8GP will kickstart the action at 13:35 CEST with the OPEN division closing the Saturday festivities with their race 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.

NASCAR Euro Series PR