Luca Engstler says he isn’t thinking about the TCR Europe title and says his objective is simply to score as many points as possible after struggling for straight line speed throughout practice and qualifying.
The German qualified a frustrated 12th for both races at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with points leader Josh Files on the front row and Julien Briche third in both the points and on the starting grid.
Engstler had run as high as seventh in Q2, but a track limits infringement had his best time on board the M1RA Hyundai i30 N TCR disallowed.
He believes the inclement conditions had their role to play in putting him even that far up the grid.
“For the championship we don’t look [at it] at all because since FP1 we have had technical problems,” said Engstler after the session.
“The rain helped us a lot because otherwise with 15kph less on the straight, you end up P29, so I did what I could.
“I was driving my ass off and trying to get the car on a spot in the top ten. The team is also working its ass off to solve the issues, so I have to say thanks to them because it’s not their fault, it’s nobody’s fault.
“We just have to find a solution to the problem and hope for the best. We don’t see the issue in the data, we just see that we are losing speed on the straights, which is a lot on a track like Barcelona.”
Engstler insists the struggles now mean his focus has switched to banking as many points as possible, rather than playing out the championship percentages.
“We’ve had too many DNFs this year to be thinking about the championship but we are hoping to score some good points anyway this weekend.
“That’s the goal, I will try everything. Even if we have 15kph less on the straights, I told the guys that I will go out and do my best. We will give the maximum, there is nothing more we can do at the moment.”
The opening race of the weekend is scheduled to get underway at 17:20 BST.