Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team’s Jean-Karl Vernay is aiming for a strong haul points in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR)’s reverse-grid race at the Slovakia Ring.
The 2017 TCR International Series Champion qualified as the leading Audi RS 3 LMS in 8th yesterday, but will start on the third row courtesy of exclusions to the Hyundai trio of Norbert Michelisz, Yvan Muller and Thed Bjork.
The Frenchman has been struggling with the balance of the WRT-run car, as has team mate Gordon Shedden, who managed just 20th.
He has already taken a reverse-grid victory at Marrakesh this season, as well as the Race 3 win at Zandvoort, and sits 36 points adrift of standings leader Muller.
Speaking to TouringCars.net post-qualifying, Vernay is looking forward to an interesting opening race but says the focus is on getting a points haul to keep in touch with the Hyundai’s in the points.
“I think we can be very happy with the job the team did, it was a brand new track for me – I’m really liking it – I feel comfortable and I’m looking forward to a good race tomorrow, to improve the car for second qualifying and with a reverse grid, score some big points and stay in contact with the Hyundai,” said Vernay.
Despite being pleased to finish as the lead among a quartet of Audi cars in the field, Vernay highlighted the performance deficit to the Hyundai i30 N TCR – which occupies three of the top four positions in the championship – as concerning.
“The first objective is to be in front of your team mate, obviously, and to be the first Audi,” he said.
“We have been doing very well since the start of the season but it’s not enough, we are still in contention for the title. For sure, the Hyundais are miles away from us, but because of their mistakes or bad luck we are still quite close.
“I tried everything to be close but when I look at the lap times we are not even tenths away from P4 and P5, which when I think about my lap I could have found, maybe more.
“Right now it’s difficult for us to find a good balance with a lot of grip. We have understeer, oversteer – this is the main problem right now.
“The problem is the weight – there are a lot of long corners, it’s not good for the brakes or the tyre consistency or degradation. I had to fight very hard with the car, it’s not perfect yet but we’re brand new here as a team on this track, and we have a lack of experience.”