Having arrived in Italy as an outside contender for the FIA World Touring Car Cup, Frédéric Vervisch now leaves Adria International Raceway as Yann Ehrlacher’s nearest title challenger.
Following a strong display of speed on Saturday, Vervisch followed up with a second place finish in the feature race on Sunday.
As far as the Belgian is concerned, much of the reason why he and the rest of the Audi contingent were able to do so well was because of their improved collaboration between garages.
“As a team we did our best weekend so far. We worked really well together,” he said. “I had big help from Gilles [Magnus], so I have to thank him, but as well from Tommy [Coronel] and Nathanaël [Berthon].
“We had better pace than at Pau, but we were fighting against a very strong competitor and they were just a bit better than us. So it’s hard but we are still in contention to do well.
“We are second [in the overall standings] and there is still one race. I hope at that race in Russia we will be flying like hell.”
As is the case for most of the WTCR field, Vervisch lacks experience of the Sochi Autodrom where this season’s World Cup finale will take place. However, he is looking forward to going there all the same.
“I think it could be good,” he said. “There are long straights, long corners, so I think this could be good for us.
“But again, we need to see. You never know, we need to wait for the compensation weight as well. But I think we can be good there or we should be good there, so let’s hope it will be like that.”