Autodis Racing by THX’s Stefano Comini says his recovery drives from 22nd to eighth in both TCR Europe races at the Hungaroring feel like a “little win” after a torrid qualifying session.
The double TCR International Series champion was on the back foot after qualifying, in which he struggled with a gearbox issue meaning he only posted a one lap time, which gave him 22nd on the grid for both races.
He told TouringCars.Net that given those circumstances, he feels it would have been “very difficult” to extract any more from the weekend.
“It would have been very difficult to do any better,” said Comini. “The car was impressive – my engineer found something really good and the car was really impressive at the end of the race.
“It’s not easy when you start from the back because you need to give everything in the first laps to recover, and to avoid losing too much time with the front.
“When you do this you stress the tyre, and after that it’s very tough to keep them good and to use them well at the end of the race. I think the strategy was good and the car allowed me to recover like this.
“We recovered our weekend – it started badly with the gearbox and these results are like a little win after that!”
With testing planned for Comini before the TCR Europe championship heads to Assen on 18/19 August, he is confident of better results and is excited to gain more crucial track time.
“It’s all about mileage because in Spa I didn’t drive too much – I only did practice and then we crashed in race one and race two I didn’t start,” he said.
“In qualifying here we had a gearbox problem, so this test day is very important for me and I really want to thank the team because it’s expensive and they want to do it because we want to win.
“We can do better and we will work with the team. We will have a test before Assen and to work again to improve everything. So I’m really thankful for this and to everyone for supporting me every race because I have a lot of support every time at the track and this is very good.”
“And this gives me a big power – to see everything and now I have the confidence and it will be fun in Assen.
“I don’t know the track but it won’t be problem – it’s just left corners and right corners then straights anyway!”