The qualifying sessions, which went nothing like Augusto Farfus would have hoped, made things particularly difficult for him in the three races on Sunday. Because the Brazilian, unlike his team-mate Nick Catsburg, who secured pole position twice, was unable to find the right balance for his Hyundai i30 N TCR, he had to set off in pursuit from positions 19, 17 and 17 in the three classification rounds.
This was a resounding success in race one. After the race was restarted following a safety car period after a collision at the start, Farfus worked his way up through the field impressively, and after eleven laps crossed the finish line in fifth place, celebrating his best result in the FIA WTCR to date. The Brazilian moved up a total of 14 places.
After tyre damage as a result of jostling from behind pushed him back into 21st place in race two, the BRC Hyundai N Lukoil Racing Team driver rounded off the weekend by picking up where he left off with his outstanding performance in race one. This time, Farfus overtook ten of his rivals and finished in seventh place to secure his second-best result of the season.
In the overall standings, the 20 points from the Slovakiaring mean he now has 50 points to his name, putting him in twelfth place out of 26 starters. The fourth of a total of ten rounds of the FIA WTCR will be held in Zandvoort on the Dutch North Sea coast from 17th to 19th May. Augusto Farfus will take on a double challenge there. At the same time as the races in Zandvoort, the Brazilian will also be in action in the 24h-qualifying race at the Nürburgring.
“I think that the races today were good. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the right balance in qualifying, which had a heavy impact on today’s results,” said Farfus: “I started from right down the field in all races and moved up through the field really well in race one and race three. I’m really proud of that. It’s a shame that tyre damage in race two prevented me from getting a better result. I’m on the right track and am becoming more and more familiar with both the championship and the car. The field is extremely well balanced, it’s all about the details, which is where I still have things to learn. I’m really pleased with finishing in fifth and seventh place after starting right down the field. The races are really short and the fact that I overtook lots of cars in just a few laps shows that the speed is there. The next races are in Zandvoort, on a track that I really like and on which I have already delivered very good performances. I hope that everything comes together there.”
