James Nash critical of race format for season finale after Macau qualifying woes

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash has slammed the different race format for the season finale at Macau, which is the only round of the season where there’s no reversed grid for the second race, after qualifying in seventh behind two of his three remaining championship competitors in Macau.

The rain shower that his just before Qualifying 2 played against the Craft-Bamboo SEATs, who haemorrhaged pace in comparison to the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golfs, which jumped to the front in the wet conditions, with Jean-Karl Vernay over four seconds faster in the rain.

“We didn’t have the car in qualifying; we could maybe have gone half a second quicker if we really pushed, but that wouldn’t have changed much against the VWs,” said Nash to TouringCarTimes. “I was the quickest in our team with the extra weight of 30kg, so that’s a positive. I just have to stay out of the wall and keep pushing forward and hope for some bad luck on their part.”

Jean-Karl Vernay now starts Race 1 from pole ahead of team-mate Stefano Comini. With the Guia Race run to a similar rulebook to the other races on the schedule, which feature a qualifying race then a main race, there’s no reversed grid for this event (as last year), which means the winner of Race 1 will start the second race, the “Guia Race of Macau”, from pole position, meaning Vernay’s current in the best position to score the maximum possible points from the weekend.

“It’ll be a shame if the championship is decided because there’s no reversed grid,” said Nash. “We have a championship based on rules and regulations, and you have the format set for ten events, and then the last event is a completely different format. For me to get a first and a second in Thailand was really hard and I had to really work for it, yet this weekend some other drivers could have it fairly easy. It is what it is, but it’s just slightly disappointing that we’ve come to Macau with a different format.”