Struggles in Spain | Hyundai N
It was another difficult weekend for our customers at the fifth round of the 2020 WTCR season, Race of Spain, held at the 5.345km MotorLand Aragón circuit.
Though there was a improvement from the previous round, Race of Hungary, struggles with standing starts meant that our i30 N TCR cars were unable to capitalise on their advantageous starting positions.
Podium in Race 3
Gabriele scored a podium finish in the third race of the weekend, coming through from eighth on the grid to finish in third. It marked his third points scoring finish of the weekend, but the Italian was disappointed not to convert his second row start in the second race into a podium or victory.
“Honestly I was expecting to win races this weekend,” he said. “The car showed good pace but overall, it has not been a good weekend.”
His teammate Norbi claimed pole position in Race 1, but a bad start dropped him down to sixth. He was forced to change his engine before Race 2, with his mechanics in a race against time to prepare his car. He started from the pitlane and progressed up the order into the points, but unfortunately he was unable to replicate this performance in Race 3 after stalling on the grid.
“Things didn’t go our way in the races. It’s a shame, we should have secured much more but we are back in two weeks to resolve this,” he concluded.
Glimmer of hope
Luca secured a top-ten start for each of Sunday’s races with his qualifying efforts, and finished in the points in Race 1 with eighth place. The German started Race 2 from the front row, but after almost stalling his car at the start he fell down the pack. He regained some positions to cross the line in sixth, though a post-race penalty demoted him to ninth.
“A tough one for us in Aragón,” said Luca. “The speed in the car was good but having lost ground at the start, I wasn’t able to do anymore.”
In his WTCR debut, Josh Files enjoyed two points scoring finishes in Races 2 and 3. After issues prevented him from progressing to the second part of qualifying, the Brit carved his way through the field to 12th and eighth place. Penalties applies after the race saw him classified in 14th and 10th respectively.
“It was a tricky first weekend for my first WTCR event. I enjoyed lots of on-track battles and was right in the middle of it all, and managed to finish in the points twice,” summarised Josh.
WTCR is set to return to MotorLand Aragón after the relocation of the final event of the season. Race of Aragón is due to be held on November 14-15.