Jean-Karl Vernay expects to be out despite damage in qualifying
Team WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay brought about an early end to qualifying on Saturday at Vila Real when he crashed his Audi RS 3 LMS out with just over two minutes to go in qualifying, but the two-time WTCR race winner expects to be out for this afternoon’s race.
The Frenchman was pushing on his final run before he hit the barriers, damaging his tyre and the wheel arch on his Audi RS 3 at the tricky Portuguese street circuit, which he’s racing at for the first time this weekend.
“I was just trying to push a little bit more, but I had a big snap. I thought I could just slightly touch the wall, but it didn’t work out,” said Vernay to TouringCarTimes.
“The car should be fine, the damage is only to the wheel and a little bit to the radiator on the front-left, but the rest of the car is completely fine.”
Vernay, who won last time out at Zandvoort from the overall pole position, says he’s struggling to adapt to the city track.
“I’m not happy with the balance,” he said. “We have no experience here, I’m a rookie, the team’s a rookie, so it’s tough. I think I did some really good laps compared to the other Audis, but I don’t understand how the Volkswagens are so quick. I was right behind the two Golfs and we just can’t follow them.
“We’ll try and score some points today, but I thought we’d have a better opportunity to score bigger points; also the Hyundais are back, which is surprising with only a 10mm (ride height) change, but that means they’ve taken four spots on the grid in front of us.”
