Giacomo Altoè is cautiously excited for the second TCR International Series race in Georgia, after the young Italian claimed the reverse-grid pole position in his maiden international series event.
Altoè has been slower than team-mate Gianni Morbidelli for much of the weekend, but he found himself in the right place at the right time when he claimed pole position for race two, after ending qualifying in tenth position.
The 17-year-old admits that he still has much to learn from Morbidelli, with the team collectively having to work to understand their new Volkswagen Golf GTi, after switching machinery at the end of 2016.
“It’s a good result; P10 for race one and P1 for race two,” said Altoè to TouringCars.Net. “I’m quite happy with the set-up on the car. We still have to improve some things, but we are good.
“I’m trying to learn as much as possible from Gianni, because he already has two years of experience in the TCR International Series and he is a really good driver. During the whole weekend he has been faster than me, so I am trying to learn as much as possible from him.
“I’m really excited for race two, because starting in P1 in my second race in the International Series will not be easy with the pressure.”
Altoè added that he is not going to take any unnecessary risks in order to win the race, saying that he would be happy with a podium and that finishing all races and achieving consistency is the key.
“First of all I want to finish the race – to get as much experience as possible. Then, if a podium comes, I will be happy.
“I want to first think about race one, and then I will think about race two. My target is to learn as much as possible from all of the drivers with many years of experience in touring cars. I want to go up race-by-race and then if some podiums come it will be OK.
“I want to try to finish all of the races and to get as much as experience as I can.”
Race one begins at 13:30 local time (10:30 BST / 11:30 CEST) and will be streamed live online at www.tcr-series.tv.