Aurélien Panis delighted with Thailand win after difficult start to 2017

Aurélien Panis was overjoyed with a “perfect” Race 2 in Thailand at the Buriram International Circuit, leading from lights-to-flag to secure his first win of the season in his second weekend in the championship, after leaving Zengõ Motorsport and the World Touring Car Championship after their Portuguese race back in July.

The Frenchman, who had already race for Boutsen Ginion Racing in the TCR Benelux series in their second race weekend at Zandvoort, joined the team at Oschersleben, but an engine failure in the first race scuppered his debut weekend and the first part of the Thailand weekend, as he was forced to suffer an engine change penalty which put him at the back of the grid for the first race.

After qualifying in tenth, the reversed grid put him on pole for Race 2, which was the optimum qualifying strategy for this weekend.

Panis stopped in the pits in the first race after debris was caught in his radiator which was causing the engine to overheat, before going on to lead the way in Race 2, taking his first points, podium and race win in the championship all at the same time.

“It’s a good feeling, I’m very happy. It was just a perfect race and our pace was good,” said Panis to TouringCarTimes.

“After a difficult start to the season, things were really hard, so it was a really good decision to come to TCR International with Boutsen Ginion which is a really good team, and it’s great to achieve this win today with them.”