Mikhail Grachev happy with season-best result

Mikhail Grachev was one of the protagonists of the Race of Spain at Valencia earlier today.

The Russian driver finished fifth in the first heat and praised the progress made with the Audi TT:”I am happy with the result, but also with the way the car behaved during the race,” said the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver to TouringCarTimes. “I think our pace is quite similar to the SEATs, but on the other hand I struggled a lot to warm up the front tyres, so I had a few problems in the first couple of laps. After that, the car was actually pretty good, and I managed to keep Stefano Comini behind me.”

Grachev discussed keeping the current championship leader at bay:”It was not easy, it took a lot of concentration for me to do that. Like I said, we had some indications from this race, as we need to review our set up, to make sure that we are strong right from the word go. It is the best result of the season, and now I want more. We will analyze the data from today, and hopefully tweak the car to make it faster.”

The Russian was also the protagonist of a strange accident under Safety Car with fellow Audi driver Franz Engstler:”It was a crazy moment, there was a collision at Turn 1 and after that we were all really close together. At the exit of Turn 5 Franz (Engstler) slowed down and I had no idea there was a Safety Car, because my view was completely full of cars. I tried to get past Franz but of course he didn’t see me either, and as soon as we touched my car flew into the air. It was an unfortunate accident.”

Liqui Moly Team Engstler have both their drivers on 16 points, with Grachev scoring the German outfit’s best result today by claiming fifth.