We won our second race in a row on Saturday. For me personally I think it was one of my best races ever.
After the win in the 6-hour race in August, the drivers of the team met one evening to watch video and data together. That was a very productive session, and already on Friday I was faster than ever before with this car.
It’s always something to learn from your team mates, and it’s also easy to get into a sort of rhytm that you think is very fast, but then you learn that it’s possible to drive even faster.
In the qualifying Saturday morning I was a bit unlucky again with trafic and double-yellows. On my first lap I had quite a bit of trafic and a double yellow towards Hohe Acht. Still the laptime was 08.52, so this was a lap well into the 40’s. My second lap was totally ruined by a code-60, and then we aborted the third lap when we saw that it was several accidents on the track. I was second at the time, three seconds behind the provisional pole. But then Kenneth once again showed his impressive speed, and secured pole with a laptime of 08.43.
Kenneth had a good start, and had a heathy lead over the others in the TCR-class. But he was a bit unlucky on his last lap. Our competitors went in after lap 8, but we did one more. And on that lap it was several accidents, that the ones who pitted on the lap before avoided, and therefore we lost almost all the gap to the others. Håkon had a fine battle with an Opel Astra, but because of a great pit stop from our mechanics I was in the lead when I started the final stint.
It was now Nürburgring-instructor, the very fast Andy Gülden, who was second with his Seat Leon. But I was faster than him on every lap, and I could cross the finish line with a big margin over the others.
My first three laptimes was 08.52, 08.53 and 08.52, and I’m very satisfied with that. Kenneth set the best lap of the race with 08.49. In fact, three of the fastest laps in the TCR-class this day belonged to Kenneth and me!
Next race is September 22nd.
Photos: parcferme.no
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