Tom Coronel underlined his happiness after charging through the midfield to 11th in the opening TCR Europe race at Hockenheim.
The Dutchman made consistent progress in the Boutsen Ginion Racing-run Honda Civic Type R, eventually taking the chequered flag just behind siblings Teddy and Jimmy Clairet, both in Peugeot 308s.
Speaking to TouringCars.net at the 2.8-mile German circuit, Coronel says he enjoyed his first experience in TCR’s European series alongside his FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) commitments.
He also explained he accidentally ran the first two laps in the wrong gears, but quickly recovered and made progress through the field in the DHL-backed Honda.
“I was enjoying it, absolutely,” said Coronel.
“I had some good fights, I think everything was reasonably fair, touring car style, but nothing stupid – I had fun.
“For the first two laps I was in the wrong gear, that was my mistake, but I learn.”
Looking ahead to the final race tomorrow, Coronel believes there are better results yet to be had and feels he could have passed the Clairet siblings, had there been another lap as he initially thought.
“I think so. Because the two Peugeots were in front of me, I think at one stage I had both of them but then made a small exit at Turn 2,” he explained.
“You could see they were working together – they are brothers. It was alright. The last lap, which I didn’t know it was the last lap because I thought there was another one, I first wanted to catch them and then play, but there was no time to play any more. But it was nice, I had good fun.”
The final race is scheduled to get underway at 10:35 BST tomorrow [26th May].