Alex Morgan finished his Oschersleben weekend on a high with his maiden TCR Europe win. Following technical difficulties in qualifying as well as the retirement in the first race, Morgan was happy to be able to celebrate with his Wolf-Power Racing team.
Oschersleben turned out to be challenge for Alex Morgan. His CUPRA TCR suffered from a damaged hub that broke the drive shaft which forced the Brit to retire early in qualifying. With a ‘blessing in disguise’ Morgan still had secured tenth place.
With the a tight schedule between qualifying and race one, the Briton had feared whether his team would be able to repair his car in time, although in the end they got the car to the grid.
Starting the first race within the top ten, Morgan was unable to stay away from trouble when he suffered from a clash with Mat’o Homola (Hyundai i30) and Davit Kajaia (CUPRA TCR), forcing the 32-year-old to retire.
Due to the reverse grid rules, Morgan was able to start the second race on Sunday from pole. Over the course of the 23 minutes and one lap race, Morgan was under constant pressure from Tom Coronel. An overwhelmed Morgan told TouringCars.Net: “It feels absolutely amazing!
“We are such a small team, experiencing some difficulties throughout the season and this weekend in particular.
“To get a clean start and the lead into Turn One, I knew that I just had to do qualifying laps then. However, Tom was on me the whole race which made this race one of the most intense ever for me.”
Experiencing understeer early in the race, having to adapt his driving style, it was a tough job for the Wolf-Power Racing’s driver.
“Fortunately, I didn’t make any mistakes. There were a few issues with people dropping oil on the track that definitely tested me but we made it through”, added Morgan.
His CUPRA had visible ‘battle scars’ from the incidents in the day before, with the Briton joking that it was only just being held together.
“It looks like it has been through a rally stage! I think 50% of the car was held by tape. I knew that if I’d have a contact, there would be bits flying everywhere“, he joked and continued.
“Jokes aside, the car has been absolutely fantastic. I want to thank Team Halder for making the car available. Because this is Mike and Michelle Halder’s car from previous seasons. We’ve come and done the job despite being such a small team. It is amazing!”