Pepe Oriola back in the title fight after Slovakia Race 1 win
Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola has now put himself firmly in the title fight after his first victory in the World Touring Car Cup in Slovakia, now sitting sixth in the points table, just eight points behind last year’s WTCC champion Thed Björk.
The 24-year-old has now scored more than half his season’s tally in just four races in the Cupra TCR, taking his first win after holding off Jean-Karl Vernay’s Audi RS 3 LMS in the first race at the Slovakiaring, one of the few circuits on the WTCR calendar where he has previous experience.
“I had a good start, and Jean-Karl also had a good start so it was quite close in the first corner, but I’ve been racing with him for a long time so I was confident he wasn’t going to touch me,” said Oriola.
“After that, I just tried to follow (Aurélien) Comte, and I could attack him after a mistake he made and then I was just in the lead and tried not to do any mistakes, as the braking points are pretty hard here.”
Oriola’s lead was wiped out after the safety car intervention when Frédéric Vervisch’s Audi stopped on circuit, but the wily Spaniard made sure Vernay wasn’t in a position to attack on the restart, although it earned him a warning from the race director.
“The only place Jean-Karl could overtake me is in sector one, so after the safety car I did my best to open up a lead into Turn 2, and it worked, so I’m really happy, and for the team, and for Cupra.”
Now sixth in the championship, Oriola outlines his championship aspirations:
“I just want to arrive to Macau with some hopes, as in Macau, anything can happen, and I’d want to go there with some chance to win the championship,” he said to TouringCarTimes.
