Pepe Oriola was left disappointed after a difficult qualifying session for the season finale of the TCR International Series in Macau, with the Spaniard struggling to the tenth-best time in the wet.
Having been consistently second fastest in both of Thursday and Friday’s free practice sessions, Oriola then showed promising pace in the first part of qualifying to go fastest of all on a then-dry track.
Rain then started to fall at the end of Q1 and in the break before Q2, so Oriola’s Craft-Bamboo Racing team were one of the first to put wets on their cars.
Unfortunately for Oriola, he was unable to take that advantage as Q2 ended up being delayed, and then he couldn’t match the pace of the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golfs in the short 15-minute session.
“In Q1 we had the best pace and I was very confident going into Q2 but then it started to rain and the bad luck struck again,” said Oriola. “This just isn’t my year and I have had a lot of bad luck.
“I feel with P10 it is really over now, but of course anything can happen. I am just going to enjoy my race and I am hoping for a podium if I can overtake.
“We just didn’t have the best setup in the wet, but the four-second gap to the VWs is ridiculous. I hope everything can be ok for us in the end but we now really have to work together.”
Craft-Bamboo Racing CEO Richard Coleman insists the battle is not over for Oriola, who 33 points behind points leader and team-mate James Nash.
“It was a disappointing session for us,” said Coleman. “Obviously, everything went very well in the dry taking provisional pole but then with the rain in Q2 we just didn’t have the pace.
“The drivers struggled with confidence and with the lacking tyre temperature they couldn’t push as hard as they would have liked.
“We are not out of the fight yet and there is still everything to play for tomorrow and anything can happen in Macau.”