3 / 40
should be good enough. Thursday
testing was a catastrophe, but Friday’s
Practice was better and Qualifying was
perfect. I have to thank my engineer
Andrea Cisotti who did a good job.”
And Tarquini echoed:
“I checked the
data of Thierry’s laps together with
Cisotti and saw which were the few
points to be improved on performance.
I also offered some advice on the way
to manage the race, such as the
standing start, restarting after a safety
3
SPOTLIGHT
The peak of Hyundai’s programme to
enter a guest car in the 2019 ADAC TCR
Germany series’ events was the
participation of World Rally
Championship star Thierry Neuville at
the Nürburgring.
Nothing was left to chance, and so the
Belgian rallyman was entrusted to a
very special tutor: Gabriele Tarquini.
Besides being the reigning WTCR
champion, the experienced Italian was
the man who developed the Hyundai
i30 N TCR from its inception to its
racing debut that – incidentally –
resulted in Tarquini’s victory in the
2017 TCR International Series at
Zhejiang.
It was an explosive combination
between these two talented men, so no
wonder that results went beyond even
the rosiest forecasts, as Neuville, on his
racing debut, set pole position and
then dominated the first race.
“I knew from my testing in Spa that the
speed was good.
” Neuville commented.
“Then I had a test session at the
Nürburgring and Luca Engstler was
there and told me that the my speed
ThierryNeuville’s
sensational racing debut
car period
and
saving the tyres.
I knew he would be good, but frankly I
was really surprised with his pace in
Qualifying and the race. It was a nice
experience, I did some coaching in the
past and enjoyed very much to do it
again with a very good and professional
driver like Thierry.”
Neuville definitely enjoyed the new
experience:
“It was good fun.
I came here to discover a new category
and it went better than expected.
The speed was there with the car
straight away in the dry, but less so in
the wet conditions because I’m lacking a
bit of experience. I was very lucky to
have Luca and Gabriele here to feed me
with information and tips that I could
use to my advantage straight away.
It’s a completely different driving
style compared to WRC, even if Sunday’s
race was a bit more similar! Actually it’s
the same sort of situation that I could
maybe face during Rally Germany so it’s
good to have had this experience.
”
And because appetite comes
with eating, there is already
speculation about Neuville
making occasional appearances
in the WTCR. He confirmed this is a
possibility providing it’s not going to
interfere with his WRC programme,
but ruled out that this may happen in
the current season due to clashing
dates.
“I personally think Thierry would be up
to the task in WTCR. I’m not sure he can
win, but he could easily fight for
podium positions,”
commented
Tarquini.