Gordon Shedden says saloon advantage is gone for Audi

Gordon Shedden has said the “perceived advantage” of racing a saloon in the 2019 World Touring Car Cup has now gone, as the Audi RS 3 LMS continued to struggle at the last round at Zandvoort, with Frédéric Vervisch scoring the best result for the marque at the weekend with ninth in Race 1.

The Audis were the most off-the-pace manufacturer while the Lynk & Cos dominated the weekend. While the Lynk & Co 03 TCR is the only other “three box” saloon model on the grid, the Chinese cars are unofficially considered as a second-generation TCR car, against the cost effective Volkswagen Group models, the RS 3 LMS, the Volkswagen Golf and Cupra TCR.

Shedden had his worst weekend to-date in WTCR at Zandvoort, despite qualifying in the top three at the Dutch circuit last year.

“Unfortunately, the BoP changes this year definitely aren’t in our favour, and no Audi driver is getting the results they were getting last year,” said Shedden. “With other teams having had their power turned up, it’s really hurting us in the races.

“Last year, we had a car that could pass anything at the end of the straight, and now we don’t. So what we have now is a big car, with no downforce, and no straight-line speed, so the perceived benefit of racing a saloon car has been completely wiped out – we may as well be driving a hatch.”