TCR International Series points leader James Nash insists that he is not thinking about the title just yet, despite heading to Singapore this weekend with a seven-point advantage over team-mate Pepe Oriola.
Nash took the lead of the championship last time out in Thailand, even though the Craft-Bamboo Racing driver suffered a huge shunt in Friday testing. As a result of being the best points scorer in Buriram, Nash will also have to carry the maximum 30 kg of success ballast this weekend.
The Brit has never before raced on the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, but he is looking forward to the challenge under the floodlights.
“I’m really looking forward to racing in Singapore,” said Nash. “My team raced there last year, winning one of the races, so we’ll have data from that to help us set up the car this time.
“We know the weekend will be a challenge, the track being completely new to me and I’m carrying top weight too, but I’m up for it and really can’t wait to get started in First Practice on Friday morning.”
Nash also explained that his Craft-Bamboo team have not done any further work on his car following Thailand, where it was hastily repaired on the Friday night following his accident.
“The car remains pretty much as I left it after race two in Thailand,” added the 30-year-old. “One or two things, essentially cosmetic, still need sorting but, fortunately, the shell is okay after the big shunt I had there so we haven’t had to bring in a replacement.
“We do plan though to get the car into Craft Bamboo Racing’s Asia workshop after Singapore to finish the repair job properly before the next event in Malaysia.”
Nash insists that he is not yet thinking about the title, despite being at the top of the standings with just three events and six races still left to run.
“The plan is to hopefully continue what we’ve been doing all season: trying to score consistently well. It would be nice, of course, to get some more wins and be assured I’ll be doing my best, though it’s a fact that nobody has got more podium results than me so I must be doing something right.
“I’m happy to let others think about title chances. Personally, I intend to only start thinking about it if I get to Macau in November for the final event and I’m still in with a shout.
“I’m determined to make sure that I will [have a chance] but until then I not going to waste energy thinking about it.”