Niels Langeveld became the first driver last weekend to take the inaugural win for an Audi RS3 LMS in the ADAC TCR Germany Series, as the Dutchman fought his way to the front to take a hard-fought victory, even having been cleared following an incident involving initial leader Florian Thoma.
The Racing One driver stated to TouringCars.Net after his win that “damage control” was the only consideration after a poor start in the first race of the weekend, which saw him finish sixth.
“First of all, yesterday, I had a little mistake on the set-up, but we forgot about that, ending up P6, which was the maximum.”
Measuring the conditions that had emerged on Sunday was one of the key factors that the drivers would have to manage, with a heavy downpour causing a different approach to be required, which the Dutchman was quick to confront to take the win.
“Today, I went for the reverse, saw the track drying up and looked in the warm up lap – where can I overtake, where are the dry spot, when can I go on the throttle, do I have to wait about the outside of the track, because it is still wet.
“I felt that and saw a lot of other people struggling with understeer, hitting the throttle too early and trying to get a good exit, but I had a rocket start!”
Langeveld is now 12th overall in the standings with 83 points, just five points behind Team Honda ADAC Sachsen’s Steve Kirsch, who also came together with the #14 driver, as the pair were battling over second place with 20 minutes remaining.
The Dutch driver will head to home soil in three weeks’ time, as Circuit Park Zandvoort hosts round four of the 2017 ADAC TCR Germany, where Langeveld will able to show further signs of improvement.
“Compared to yesterday, it was fantastic. Sometimes there are times when it is really shit, but then the start was really, really good. I will learn from my mistakes.”