Jordi Gené took the only podium finish for Volksagen Team Biogas at Knutstorp, and his second podium result of the 2012 STCC season in race two at Knutstorp, and heads to the season finale hoping to back-up his team-mate’s challenge for the title.
The Spanish driver is in his first season in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship racing for the works Volkswagen Team Biogas team alongside Johan Kristoffersson. After qualifying in fifth for both races, the 41-year-old lost one spot and dropped to sixth in race one but a good start in race two saw him move up to fourth, which became third after Kristoffersson’s retirement on lap 13.
“In the second half of the season my pace has been getting better. A second place in Östersund, pole position at Jyllandsringen, third place here,” said Gené to TouringCarTimes.
“My biggest problem at the moment at the moment is qualifying. For the last eight years I’ve been qualifying with tyre heaters, and in this Championship just one-tenth can make a big difference (in grid position).”
“I’m not where I want to be, but I feel like every time I’m getting closer. The shame is we were supposed to do a very intense pre-season test, but unfortunately we could not do it, we only did two days, so my pre-season has been the first half of this season.”
The final round of the Championship is a new circuit to the STCC calendar at Solvalla, near Stockholm, which will be new to all of the drivers in the STCC which Gené hopes will work in his favour.
“That should be very good for me. My best race was Östersund and that was new for everyone, so I hope again I can have a good weekend and help my team-mate get back what he lost in this race, which is a lot but it’s possible, we have to stay positive and push to the maximum.”
