Joint TCR Europe championship leader Gilles Magnus expects a strong weekend for the Audi RS 3 LMS at Hockenheim after positive results in both free practice sessions today.
Engine issues hampered Magnus’ morning session, but the RACB National Team racer led the way for the majority of second practice before a late effort from fellow Audi racer Santiago Urrutia gave the latter top spot.
The Belgian also believes the 2.8-mile Hockenheimring is better suited to the Audi than the Hungaroring, which hosted the season-opener last month.
Magnus took sixth on his debut and a further podium amid difficult weather conditions in the final contest, handing him the joint championship lead with M Racing’s Nelson Panciatici and top spot in the TCR Benelux standings.
“I’m quite happy. Free practice one was quite difficult, we had some engine issues, but that’s all solved now and free practice two was great,” said Magnus to TouringCars.net.
“I think the pace is here with the Audi on this track, Budapest was a little more difficult, but we left with the championship lead so it was a good weekend as well.
“This track is more made for our car, let’s say, also we have a good compensation weight thanks to Budapest, so this should be our weekend for the Audis.
“We’ll do some fine tuning overnight but we won’t change big things because the car was good today throughout practice. So let’s see tomorrow, we can go to bed with a comfortable feeling and it should be okay tomorrow.”
Looking ahead to the double-header in Baden-Wurttemberg, Magnus underlined the importance of consistency to his championship challenge, with top-five finishes the aim this weekend.
“I prefer not to talk about these things, but let’s say top five I will be happy. In the end, the goal is the championship and I think we should be smart and not want too much at certain points and just take the big points and if you end up in the top six every single time, you will be fine, so that’s the main goal, let’s stay focused and let’s stay calm.”
The weekends action continues in qualifying, scheduled to take place tomorrow at 09:05 BST.