Leading Craft-Bamboo Racing drivers Jordi Gené and Pepe Oriola say they are happy with qualifying for the TCR International Series in Portugal, despite being comprehensively beaten to pole.
Spaniards Gené and Oriola line up in second and third on the grid for Sunday’s first race, with Gené enjoying his best qualifying result of the season so far. The experienced touring car racer admits he needs to have a good weekend to lift him up in the championship standings, where he is 53 points adrift of the leader.
“In Valencia I think we had a similar pace to here, as I was really close to Pepe in practice, but in the wrong moment I made a mistake,” said Gené. “I was at home, I was very hot, I wanted to perform extremely well and I overdrove, so it was my fault there. I needed a good result and Portimão has brought me this again.
“I am happy for my team because they have been working very hard and did a fantastic job because the car is perfect. I am happy for Lukoil, myself and my fans because we have showed we should be fighting constantly up there.
“At the moment my goal is to have a good result, get some points and bring myself up a little bit in the championship.”
Oriola carries 30 kg of success ballast, the maximum permitted in TCR, as he was the most successful driver last time out in Valencia. Despite this, and the fact that the pole car is much lighter, the Spaniard is happy with his qualifying efforts.
“I am happy to be third, get some points in qualifying and be in a good position for tomorrow’s race, especially because after Valencia I have another 30 kilos over the other drivers,” admitted Oriola. “I am quite happy because my main competitors in the championship are without points in qualifying.
“I will try to get as many points as I can in race one as they are starting behind me, and in the second race try to fight them to get some more points.
“We know our car is not going to be as good as in Valencia so we need a points gap. I don’t think I could do the same time as Nicki even with the 60 kilos he has less than me, especially because on this straight the Audi is a little bit lower so they have less wind resistance.”
The first TCR race from Portimão takes place at 12:35 BST on Sunday (13:35 CEST).