Jean-Karl Vernay happy with pace in repaired Volkswagen Golf

Team WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay is on course to get his championship back on track, after showing strong pace in Free Practice 2 at the Hungaroring, with the Frenchman splitting the two M1RA Hondas of Norbert Michelisz and Attila Tassi with the second fastest time.

Vernay’s car has been repaired after a high-speed crash at the Salzburgring one week ago, with the team using the first practice to verify the repairs before turning up the wick in FP2.

“I’m really surprised as we didn’t really test yesterday, we were just trying to be careful after the crash last week,” said Vernay to TouringCarTimes.

“I think we can improve the car – and I also have to improve my seat position as I’m still not feeling too well (after the crash), but I just have to try and not think about the pain and go for it.

“Now we have to be smart and see what happens in qualifying, but the base is OK. My target is to just do my weekend and score some points after last weekend.”

Team-mate Rob Huff struggled down in 17th, but ran out of time to set a lap on new tyres after the team fixed an engine issue in his Volkswagen Golf, but isn’t concerned ahead of qualifying in his new Golf GTI TCR.