Felice Jelmini admitted he was “not completely happy with his performance” after finishing qualifying at Monza in the TCR Europe series third fastest.
Jelmini, who is competing at his home event this weekend in Italy, was the leading Sebastien Loeb Racing driver, but admitted he was hoping for a stronger result in the second section of qualifying on Saturday morning.
“I’m not completely happy with my performance because I lost a couple of tenths on my fastest lap and I’m totally disappointed for the team because while we clearly have the performance, the other guys had some problems,” said a disappointed Jelmini.
“I tried to help my teammates in Q1, especially Sami (Taoufik), but we had some problems with the slipstream in the first run because my tyres weren’t ready.
“On the second run, we improved a lot but there was a red flag.”
Jelmini – who grew up just minutes away from the Italian circuit – also went on to explain how important slipstreaming was during the session.
“Maybe I know this track better than my teammates, as I only live about 20kms away and so I spent a lot of my childhood here,” added the Italian driver.
“In Q2 I searched for a slipstream and I was behind Girolami because I knew he was fast. In Monza, you have to be clever every time.
“Without slipstream, without a tow, you can’t do anything. I will do everything I can in the races, we know we have the pace so we will see what happens.”
Jelmini is currently 13th in the Drivers Standings going into this weekend’s action, and currently lies 13 points behind nearest rival Taoufik.