Photo: Audi

Loïc Duval satisfied with a strong weekend of both DTM and WEC

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Audi Sport driver Loïc Duval had a busy weekend during the DTM season opener at Hockenheim that he combined with driving for TDS Racing team in the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa Francorchamps.

The Frenchman qualified in 16th place during DTM qualifying and finished the race in tenth position. As soon as he stepped out of his RS 5 DTM, Duval drove to Spa to take a stint at the wheel of the TDS Oreca 07, where he finished fifth in his class and tenth overall.

“It was a busy weekend, once in a lifetime, to be honest,” Duval said to TouringCarTimes. “It’s not ideal to do this. TDS asked me if I could be here, specially because of the change of date for Fuji in the WEC, it wasn’t the plan when I signed with them initially. I asked Audi and they were really nice as they told me I could do it if I wanted to. I only took the decision this Thursday, as the weather was going to be good in both places. If it would have been bad either at Spa or here I wouldn’t have done it because it wouldn’t have been safe to travel between both.”

“So it was a good weekend as I got some good results in the DTM and also in the WEC. If I had failed at either it would have been easy to make excuses, but it wasn’t the case. To be honest, I have been working really hard to ensure I could do both properly so I’m happy with the result, especially here,” added Duval.

The Team Phoenix driver qualified in 12th position for the second DTM race and finished the race in fifth: “I had a good weekend. Still, we didn’t quite put it all together, especially in qualifying with old tyres. We have quite a bit of trouble warming up the tyres, as we have a different system than BMW but, in the middle of the pack, we couldn’t do it.”

“Anyway, in both races we have been competitive, we scored some good points, which is like night and day compared to last year so, hopefully, we can carry on from here,” added the Frenchman.

Duval has started his second season in the DTM and is as the other drivers trying to adjust to the changed regulations for this season that include reduced aerodynamics. Asked for the impact of the new regulations on his performance, the Audi driver said: “I think the improvement doesn’t come from my experience, but rather from the new car. We have made a lot of changes. I have also been working really hard to understand what I was doing wrong with a DTM car, how I was driving. Now it seems a bit better, we are on the right way and, hopefully, we can carry on.”