Pepe Oriola confident for tomorrow’s races

Pepe Oriola will start from third in tomorrow’s Race 1 in Sochi, Russia, behind Craft-Bamboo Lukoil team-mate Jordi Gené and Target Competition’s Andrea Belicchi.

The Spaniard scored three precious points, which leave him just one point shy of title rival Stefano Comini in the standings, as the Target Competition driver will start from eighth.

“I like this track a lot,” commented Oriola. “I had never raced here and it’s really fun, although you have to be careful with track limits. Respecting them seems the biggest issue on this circuit, it’s easy to be off as visibility in some corners is limited and there are few reference points in sector 2.”

Although he is satisfied with today’s performance, the Spaniard conceded it will be tough to make up for positions in Race 2, in which he will start from eighth: “It was a good session today and tomorrow I will have to fight for a podium spot, especially in the second heat where I will have to start from way back on the grid.”

Nevertheless, the Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver is confident ahead of tomorrow: “I am optimistic ahead of tomorrow’s races on this peculiar track and, above all, the goal will be to score more points than my rivals for the title, which remains my main objective for the weekend.”

The Spaniard had braking issues which slowed him down: “I’m even quite surprised to be third-fastest, as I thought I was further down. I must have had an issue with brakes, maybe they were too worn out or there was a faulty pad, because I couldn’t avoid locking the wheels at every strong braking. Never had such a lock-up before, with the car filled with smoke.”

Oriola is currently third in the championship, and the three points he scored today mean the Spaniard is now 19 points behind WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli.