Stefano Comini pays respect to James Nash while praising team effort

Leopard Racing’s Stefano Comini successfully defended his TCR International Series title in Macau, remaining the only driver to ever win a TCR International championship. The Swiss driver won three races on his way to becoming the champion, a result he believes comes from a team effort.

“It’s exciting to be the first double TCR International Series champion”, said the Swiss. “I won last year because of my balls, and this year I used my brain more. It’s the result of a team effort, which lasted all year long. This year we started perhaps with a wrong Balance of Performance, and then I had weird penalties like in Sepang. This victory is not just mine, it’s also Leopard’s, WRT’s and Jean-Karl’s, as well as Volkswagen’s, who supported us as much as they could.”

The Swiss is particularly happy to have grown without losing his own personal style.

“I’m happy I stayed who I am, although WRT helped me to grow both as a person and as a professional. I don’t want anyone to change me and I won’t let them: I will always have my ciggie and a bit of a beer, I’ll be who I am, an ordinary person, because I race for the people who are passionate about racing and enjoy watching us, I do it for them.”

Although last year the Swiss said he had won the championship through psychological strength, Comini says title rival James Nash’s strong personality meant it was not enough to clinch the title. The Leopard Racing driver thinks Nash is a great driver and spoke of his respect towards the Brit.

“Psychology is part of this job, but on the other side (James) Nash is also a very strong person to that respect. This is a team success, WRT made the difference. I think there are many ways to lose, I always say ‘win with honour, lose with style’. I think James fought his heart out, he never gave up and I respect him a lot for that. It’s not really necessary to go back through the year and think about who had more luck and so on, he is a great driver and he taught me that consistency can make you win championships. I genuinely think he is an incredible driver, and Lady Luck surely helped us here in Macau.”

Comini praised his team, which he believes made him grow: “I think the most positive thing about winning this championship is that I know this victory comes from a team effort and I have genuinely grown as a person and as a driver, and I have to thank my entire team for this. They are the best team in this championship. I also want to thank all the sponsors, fans and supporters for their incredible help throughout the entire season.”

Comini won the championship by a margin of just 3.5 points over Craft-Bamboo’s James Nash.