Zandvoort pole-man Jean-Karl Vernay assessing risk of Race 2 start

Team WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay took pole position in his first top-five shootout at Zandvoort in the World Touring Car Cup in his re-engined Audi RS 3 LMS, but the reigning TCR International Series champion is thinking of his approach to Race 2 where he’ll start 27th and last.

“I don’t know what to do about Race 2, I’m between taking the start and seeing what happens in the first few laps, maybe if something happens up front we can score one or two points, but I don’t think that’ll happen,” Vernay said to TouringCarTimes.

“I’m really happy with pole position,” he added. “I like this one-lap format where you have only just one chance and not to make any mistakes. I just tried to do as good as I could with about 1 or 2% margin; the guys went to bed late yesterday after changing the engine, so it’s the minimum I could do to thank them.

With WRT opting to replace the Audi’s 2.0 litre engine overnight, and with no force majeure in force as no other car was involved who was at fault, the Frenchman picks up an automatic grid penalty for his next race, meaning his tenth position in the reversed grid Race 2 becomes 27th.

“We had to change the engine, we were losing too much performance from the engine in qualifying and during the race,” he explained. “The engine performance was better, but the car is not as good as yesterday, it might be the temperature or some dust on the track, I’m not sure.”

Vernay starts ahead of former team-mate Rob Huff and current team-mate Gordon Shedden for the start of Race 3, but hopes he’ll have the measure of both of them.

“Since I’ve been driving the Audi, I’ve been doing really good starts, so if I do my job there’s no way they can pass me. I have a great relationship with both Rob and Gordon, and it’s a good weekend for Rob in terms of points, so I think he’ll be happy with P2. If I’m P1 at the first corner, I’m going to do everything I can to score the 30 points.”