Joint championship leader Pepe Oriola says he is confident that the recent technical issues his Craft-Bamboo Racing team have had with their SEAT León cars are behind him, as he prepares for the TCR International Series races in Germany.
Oriola failed to score any points in either of the previous two races at the Salzburgring, wiping out his championship lead and leaving him tied on points with Leopard Racing’s Stefano Comini at the top of the table.
The engine issue which eliminated him from race one also prevented him from taking the start in race two in Austria.
The Spaniard, who raced on the Oschersleben circuit in his first season in the World Touring Car Championship in 2011, is hoping to return to scoring big in Germany.
“The most important thing is to score some points to maintain my chances for the TCR title,”said Oriola. “It is still an intense season and I must take advantage in the next races.
“In Salzburgring I left empty handed in both races due to a mechanical problem in my car, but the team has worked hard on the set-up of the SEAT León TCR for Oschersleben.
“Oschersleben is a very technical track. In the last meeting in Austria I paid the consequences of competing in both races in a short period of time. So now, I hope to get the maximum possible score.
“Let’s hope for some more reliability on the cars because this year SEAT is having issues with the engines. I am confident though that Craft-Bamboo Lukoil will have everything sorted and I feel I will be very strong this weekend.”
Craft-Bamboo Racing CEO Richard Coleman added that he is hoping for a problem-free weekend for the team, after issues in both of the previous two events, for both Oriola and fellow title rival James Nash.
“We hope for a clean weekend with no issues,” said Coleman. “This weekend I hope will be better than character building but we know that the circuit is not going to suit our car and is going to suit that of our rivals.
“Therefore, the team must dig really deep to maximize our chances for points this weekend before heading to Lukoil’s home race in Sochi.”