Mikhail Grachev happy as testing went ‘according to plan’

Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Mikhail Grachev finished today’s testing session in Buriram, Thailand, in ninth, just a blink of an eye slower than championship leader Stefano Comini.

The Russian’s Volkswagen Golf is much faster than what it showed today, says Grachev: “We didn’t focus on lap times, we can easily shave off half a second,” said the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver to TouringCarTimes. “We were concentrating on different things, as we knew we had a few issues to solve, and we did so, therefore I am pretty confident going into the weekend.”

A relaxed Grachev said that he expects the weekend to be very tight in terms of gaps and levels of performance: “It’s easy to predict that this weekend we will all be close. It doesn’t take much to gain or lose a few places in qualifying due to being one tenth faster or slower, so I need to be focused and try not to make any mistakes. The car is good, so I’m sure we will be competitive here.”

Action will resume at 9.00 local time for the first Free Practice session.