Daniel Nagy has paid tribute to M1RA after the Hungarian pairing took a brace of podium finishes at the TCR Europe season opener in Le Castellet.
Nagy backed up a strong showing at his home WTCR event in Budapest a week prior with a front-row qualifying slot, and though he put pressure on Dušan Borković in the opening race he was ultimately forced to settle for second in a Hyundai i30 N 1-2 finish.
Striking debris after the red-flag restart ultimately compromised his chances of victory after moving forward in the finale, but regardless Nagy pointed to work done during the winter as pivotal to the success.
“To finish both races on the podium means we did a very good job. I don’t think this is about luck, I think it’s about the hard work that the guys [M1RA] did during the winter season,” Nagy explained to TouringCars.net
“We also have a strong car so I’m very satisfied with the performance and much more than happy.”
“The second race was very tough. We had tricky weather at the beginning and had to decide which tyre would be better. We started on slicks, but in the first few laps the track was becoming much wetter and it was like driving on ice, very slippery.
“I was managing to overtake some cars in the beginning, but made a mistake into Turn 6 on the first lap and then Dusan [Borkovic] and Azcona overtook me, and then I had a very difficult job, but somehow I managed to get back into third position.
“I hit debris after the red flag and my car was slowing down constantly on the straights because this debris was in the cooling system, and then I had a very difficult job to defend my position, because after that I had no choice, I just had to defend. This feels like a win.”
The championship reconvenes at Circuit Zandvoort in support of the FIA World Touring Car Cup over the weekend of 19-21 May.