Sebastien Loeb Racing’s Felice Jelmini praised his team after he secured second place in the first TCR Europe race of the weekend at Paul Ricard.
The Italian driver, who was the highest placed of the four SLR Hyundai Elantra N’s in the race of the weekend, couldn’t quite match the pace of race winner Teddy Clairet, but thanked his team for helping him earn a podium finish.
“I’m really happy with the car and I’m really happy for the team,” said Jelmini.
“We did an amazing job; it was hot outside so it was really hot inside the car. I tried to manage the tyres a little in the first half of the race, so I would be able to push in the second but the Peugeots were really strong.
“I just want to say thank you to the team and to Hyundai because the car was amazing.
You know, touring car racing is quite difficult and I prefer to slow down a little and keep the slipstream from the car in front because in my opinion is was too much of a risk to try to pass Teddy in Turn 1.”
Ahead of tomorrow’s reverse grid race, Jelmini also explained that he’s expecting a number of close battles as he starts in the midfield for race two of the weekend.
“It will be tough tomorrow as it always is,” he added.
“But we start from P7 or P8 I think so we will be in the middle of the pack and so it will be quite difficult.”
Tomorrow’s second TCR Europe race of the weekend is set to take place at 12.40 CEST (11:40 BST).