Stian Paulsen says he is focusing on the “dream result” of his first podium in race one of TCR Europe at the Hungaroring after he struggled for race pace in the second contest.
The Norwegian driver just managed to get to Q2 on Saturday, and had an excellent opening race, making up ten positions in the damp-but-drying conditions from his grid slot to finish second.
In the dry reverse-grid race, Paulsen struggled with a lack of grip, and he told TouringCars.Net that he felt he was losing traction as early as the green-flag lap.
“In one way I’m happy but today [8 July] was difficult,” said Paulsen. “I didn’t have the speed anymore – I was lucky at the start I got a few places for free, I was also spun by [Stefano] Comini, but maybe I didn’t leave him enough room so he hit me on the wheel.
“It was a racing incident but I lost a lot of traction and a lot of time to the guys in front so it today was the maximum that I could do. The setup was not good – I had a problem with the front on the warming up lap, I started understeering.
“So I thought OK now it is only about finishing and getting points, and I finished P10 and got a point, so I was almost the best CUPRA but definitely the best CUPRA over the weekend so I think it was OK.”
With the championship now into the second half of the season, Paulsen says he is hoping to score more podiums in the remaining rounds.
“I will always go for a podium again, I always said a podium would be a dream result and this is what we try to do. So we will continue to try to do this.
“This weekend, we are really happy with what we managed to do with my team and with my guys, and my sponsors. We have to think about the podium and we have to learn something from today [8 July], and we will do that for the next races.”