Jessica Bäckman secured P12 in Qualifying 1 and sixth in Qualifying 2 – latter is her best Qualifying result in TCR so far.
Looking back on Friday, it was hard for Bäckman to complete a decent a lap in her Hyundai i30. “It was challenging with all the red and yellow flags – I couldn’t really get a lap together but still I felt the cas was good and I had a lot of confidence to get a good qualifying.”
With the changing weather conditions in the East of Germany, rain is a factor to keep an eye on. On Friday, there was heavy rain between the sessions, during which the Swede was also hoping for rain at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
“I have never driven in the rain. I would have like to gain more experience with slicks on a wet track as well as the wet tyres. This is also why I hoped for rain today”, revealed the 21-year-old to TouringCars.net.
The Target Competition driver experienced traffic on her first lap which “ruined a good lap for me.”
“But as soon as I got my second set of tyres, I was able to put a decent lap together and even get into Q2 with P12. It was on the limit but I am really happy to have reached Q2. Still, I felt I could go faster.”
“Nevertheless, sixth place is my best qualifying result so far this year in TCR, so I am very happy with that as well as the good starting positions for both races”, pointed out Bäckman.
“It’s hard to predict anything with regards to the race but I hope for a good start where I can maybe take some positions in the first lap,” she added.
She sees her strength in a very good way at present, with both race pace and tyre management being a clear strength.
“If I get through the first corner and the first lap, my aim is to finish on the podium”, the driver of car number 26 added.