Jean-Karl Vernay will be starting from second place on the grid in Sunday’s FIA World Touring Car Cup main race, making it an all-French front row alongside Yvan Muller.
Vernay and stablemate Norbert Michelisz showed strong form at Circuit Pau-Arnos for Hyundai throughout Saturday, but that pace will have to be converted into results – and championship points – if they are to reignite their 2021 title charge.
“It’s a good day, you know?” Vernay reflected. “Since this morning I’ve had a good feeling. I think we worked pretty well all together, all the Hyundai drivers to set up a really good car.
“From Q1 the car was excellent. The tyre degradation is also quite huge for the rear tyres for us, so that was kind of the key of the qualifying just making sure we save some good tyres for Q3, which is what we did.
“Yvan just beat us, he did a better job and that’s all. Of course, I’m a little bit frustrated not to be on pole as we are in France and I think we had the potential. We did a good lap time in Q2, just in Q3 I didn’t feel the same grip as before and we just missed some tenths and that’s pole. But I think we can be proud of our performance.
“I’m also happy we’re P2 and P3 for Hyundai with Norbi. Now let’s score some good points tomorrow, we definitely need to if we want to be back for the fight for the titles. So yeah, it’s a good day for now.”
Vernay’s attention won’t just be on the FIA World Touring Car Cup tomorrow however. Like Mikel Azcona and Jordi Gene, the Frenchman will also be taking part in PURE ETCR. Unlike the World Cup, the electric touring car series is attending its season finale at the French venue, and Vernay has an outside chance of snatching the title away from Mattias Ekstrom.
Of course, the two different formulae of cars have some quite stark distinctions between them. ETCR cars are rear-wheel drive, for example, while regular TCR cars that are used in the World Cup are front-wheel drive – and have about half the horsepower.
Vernay would be forgiven, therefore, for struggling to switch between the two with such regularity. However, at this stage of the season, the Frenchman doesn’t claim that to be a particular issue for him anymore.
“It’s getting better [to manage],” he revealed. “Motorland Aragon was the first event with both series, it was a little bit tricky but now I’m used to it. I definitely enjoy it.
“Like I said, I just love being in these two series, I’m having a lot of fun in these two cars. It’s kind of different, I have a lot of fun driving in ETCR, in WTCR the challenge is just so difficult. Both are really exciting.”
Returning the attention back to his efforts in the World Cup though, it looks like overtaking may be difficult around the Pau-Arnos configuration. Although the venue evokes a ‘full commitment’ approach from the drivers, its tight and unforgiving nature may reduce the opportunity for overtaking to take place. With that in mind, how does Vernay rate his chances of beating Muller to a home victory?
“We’ll see tomorrow. We’ll see first in Race 1, try to analyse the start if there is some possibility,” he said. “Like I said, the most important thing is to score big points.
“We could have done pole, we didn’t, so now if we need to be satisfied with P2 tomorrow we will.
“Of course if there is some opportunity we will try to go for the win. I mean we are in France, at least there are two French drivers and there’s a good chance to have the Marseillaise on the podium, but the work is not finished.”
WTCR race one begins at 10:00 CEST (09:00 BST), followed by race two at 12:00 CEST (11:00 BST).