James Nash heads to the Slovakia Ring near Bratislava in Slovakia for rounds seven and eight of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship looking to repeat his points scoring finish of Marrakech two weeks ago.
Milton Keynes based Nash is optimistic ahead of the weekend, as he and the Team Aon team head to Slovakia safe in the knowledge that they will start the weekend on an equal footing as the circuit is making its debut in the WTCC.
“I’m really looking forward to the Slovakian event. We’re going to be racing on a circuit that as far as I know nobody in the WTCC will have raced on previously, certainly not the top runners anyway and it’ll mean that we start on a more equal footing,” explains Nash.
‘Not only are we of course developing the new Ford Focus this season, but with it being our first WTCC campaign we’ve also had to contend with rolling up at tracks with no data from previous years. We’re competing against others who’ve got several seasons’ worth of experience and technical knowledge to go by so time spent dialling in the car to the track is valuable refining time lost. At least in Slovakia we won’t be the only ones fishing for answers from the start of practice.”
Last time out in Morocco, Nash secured the best ever finish for Ford in the WTCC after he secured sixth position in the second race. He started from Pole Position and led the opening few laps. Team Aon team-mate Tom Chilton had previously got the best finish for the blue oval having crossed the line seventh in the first race.
Nash added: “We had a really good meeting two weeks ago in Marrakech and I think it is clear that we are making real progress already with the new Focus. We managed to make the top 12 Q2 session for the first time with both mine and my team-mate Tom Chilton’s car. A repeat has got to be the minimum requirement, together with two solid race finishes and more points too.”