Mikel Azcona to focus on championship fight

Mikel Azcona finished second in the first race at Monza, Italy. The Spaniard led for five laps, before eventual race winner Jean-Karl Vernay overtook him and went on to take the honours. Despite this, the Cupra driver is happy with his second place, which gives him a 10-point margin over Target Competition’s Dusan Borkovic.

“I’m absolutely happy with second, because the Audi is clearly faster than us on the straight and I can’t do anything about it,” admitted the Spaniard to TouringCarTimes. “It’s easy for Jean-Karl to overtake me. It’s exactly what we hoped for and it’s fantastic for the championship, because we are leading and for tomorrow I’m confident, as the Cupra has good pace around this track. I’m confident I can take a top six finish.”

Azcona feels safe with the gap he has managed to open compared to Borkovic, as he feels he is now in control of his own fortunes.

“I feel very safe, I know the gap is small but I’m still ahead. I will race with the calculator in my pocket, there’s no more thinking about race wins, we will race based on Borkovic’s place and go from there. It’s time to only think about the championship.”

The Spaniard also admits race winner Jean-Karl Vernay could be a threat, as he could close his 34-point gap even more if he managed to score a good result in tomorrow’s race.

“I think Jean-Karl is a very good driver and it’s safe to say he can be a threat for Dusan and myself. He is going to be very fast tomorrow, and for the last round at Barcelona I think he could be a threat if he scores a good result. We need to keep an eye on him as well.”

Azcona’s 10-point margin over Borkovic has extended from the two-point gap he enjoyed after today’s qualifying. Vernay is third, 34 points off the lead ahead of Hyundai driver Daniel Nagy (-40) and Honda driver Attila Tassi, who is 48 points off the lead.