Gabriele Tarquini admits that he has ‘totally forgotten’ most of what he experienced when he last raced at Zandvoort in the World Touring Car Championship in 2007, giving the Italian more to learn this weekend.
Tarquini was victorious on his last outing at Zandvoort, which came 11 years ago when the WTCC visited the circuit in its third season.
But the Hyundai driver, who is second overall in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) standings, has only raced at the Dutch circuit twice in his career and he admits that gives him a lot less experience than some of his rivals.
“I won there in the World Touring Car Championship in 2007 and the time before then was in 1985 when I raced in Formula 3000, my first time there,” said Tarquini.
“I remember the first corner, Tarzan, which is still the same but I know the rest of the track is not the same and I honestly have totally forgotten what I experienced in 2007.”
Having suffered from three consecutive non-scores in the previous round in Germany last weekend as a result of two separate accidents, Tarquini adds that he is glad to be doing back-to-back race weekends, giving him a chance to quickly redeem his mistakes.
“For the rhythm it’s good to be doing back-to-back races after Germany rather than stopping for a long time and going again, which can happen during the season.
“But because it’s close I still get the chance to go back to home in Italy, spend a few days with my family before coming back and starting again.”
The Zandvoort WTCR races take place on Sunday and Monday this weekend.