Autosportfoto

Battling Tarquini stays firmly in the WTCR title fight

Inaugural title winner Gabriele Tarquini has kept firmly in the fight for a second WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO heading to WTCR Race of Netherlands this weekend.

Tarquini arrived at the Slovakia Ring last week in fourth place in the table and 21 points behind Néstor Girolami. His sixth in Race 1 and ninth in Race 3 means he continues to occupy fourth spot in the standings, albeit with an increased deficit to leader Girolami, who is now 29 points ahead after nine races.

Facing the prospect of a five-place grid penalty for a driving infringement at WTCR Race of Hungary, Tarquini faced a tall order from the start at the Slovakia Ring, his prospects not helped by an off-form qualifying effort in his BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse entry.

“It was a very tough day,” said the Italian legend. “After a bad qualifying on Friday we started in the middle of the field where there is always a lot of chaos. The first and third race the target was all about scoring points, and in the second race it was a bit more difficult for me. In the end we recovered from the poor qualifying and we look forward to Zandvoort.”

Tarquini languished in P19 at the finish of Race 2 after he was ordered to serve a drive-through penalty for contact with Aurélien Panis.

WTCR Race of Netherlands takes place at Circuit Zandvoort from 17-19 May.

Zdroj: fiawtcr.com