Jean-Karl Vernay says points are the target again for Hungary Race 2

Jean-Karl Vernay is targeting further points in today’s second TCR Europe series race at the Hungaroring, as he aims to minimise the deficit to series leader Mikel Azcona.

The 2017 TCR International Series champion qualified a lowly 22nd for yesterday’s opening race, but rallied through the field after stalling at the start to finish a remarkable seventh.

The Frenchman was also slow off the line after not being able to see the lights gantry.

“I had a tricky start because I couldn’t see the lights when they went out,” Vernay told TouringCarTimes.

“I then burned the clutch and stalled the car, so I had to do a complete restart which cost me about 200 metres right off the line.”

Persistent rain made conditions difficult over the 12 lap distance, with a number of drivers hitting strife. This helped Vernay climb up the order to score “unexpected” points on a day where the Audi RS 3 LMS was largely unfancied.

“There was a bit of contact into Turn 1 so I just had to use my experience to stay out of trouble,” Vernay said. “The car felt great all race and to score points was really unexpected, especially after the nightmare in qualifying. I’d have preferred a longer race as I maybe could have scored more points.”

Vernay says he hopes to make it two points finishes in a row, but the chances of doing so depend on the weather. The Audi driver starts Race 2 in the same position as Saturday.

“We made a few changes to the car between qualifying and the race so the car felt a lot better to drive. The target is points in Race 2 but it will be difficult if the conditions are warm starting from 22nd again. We’ll do our best and see what happens.”