Jean-Karl Vernay was upbeat after the first-ever PURE ETCR weekend in Vallelunga, with the Hyundai driver saying that he and the team know where the pace was missing in the first event.
Vernay leaves the Italian circuit second overall in the drivers’ standings, after the Frenchman came second in his first battle on Saturday, then won his second head-to-head battle later in the day, before winning SuperFinal B on Sunday.
Having won the most important session of his weekend on Sunday, up against five other rivals, Vernay sits just five points behind early series leader Mikel Azcona.
Vernay could perhaps have been the leader himself, had his team-mate and fellow driver of the same Veloster, Augusto Farfus, not spun out of the lead of SuperFinal A on Sunday and gifted maximum points to Azcona.
“I think in the end it’s a pretty good weekend,” said Vernay. “From where we started in battle one, we finished second, first and first, in our races, so I know that I can be happy.
“It was a very interesting weekend, to see where we are compared to our competitors, where we need to work, and I think today was quite good.
“We saw that the CUPRAs were really fast, and we definitely have to work more to come back to them.
“I scored good points for the championship, that’s good, and it’s unfortunate for the two Hyundai cars in [SuperFinal] one because I think Augusto did a really good job.
“Whilst it’s good sharing a car with another, you are always cheering for your drivers, because of course I want Augusto to take some points off these guys, so that’s another type of racing!
“That was a disappointing moment of the day, but we can be happy about the points-side. Now we need to work.”
Vernay added that he is confident with where the Hyundai Motorsport engineers need to find additional performance before the next event at MotorLand Aragón in Spain in three weeks’ time.
“For some reason, I always like to come here, it’s a very nice region, but I’ve never been fast here, and there are two corners where I have never been fast, so I’m quite happy to leave Vallelunga with so many points in the standings.
“I can’t talk about it here, but we know where we are missing a little bit everywhere. We have a strong team, we have strong engineers, and I am quite sure we are going to be back to the next race with a better level and to fight for pole position.”