Photo: WTCR

Attila Tassi delighted with career-best qualifying on Nürburgring debut

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Attila Tassi qualified in eighth position for Race 3 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife on the 20-year-old’s racing debut at the epic 25km track, although the Hungarian’s lap is under investigation for a possible breach of the Code 60 late in qualifying.

Tassi was the first driver on slicks in the latter part of the session, with the KCMG Honda driver jumping ahead of Antti Buri’s Audi in the final moments, despite having to pass through a Code 60 slow zone due to a crash involving PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf.

Seven other drivers also improved, which demoted Tassi to eighth at the finish, but also means he’ll start third from the reversed grid second race on Saturday morning.

“This was the first time I’ve ever been on the Nordschleife, so it’s been a hell of an experience,” said Tassi to TouringCarTimes.

“In Q2, I was the first car on track with four slicks, and we did a good job, but I think we should have waited as we did our lap four minutes before the end. We played it safe, because if we went last, another car could have gone off and destroyed our lap,” he added.

Referring to the Code 60 investigation, he explained:

“I’m under investigation because of the Code 60, but I’m sure I did everything in the rules.”

Should Tassi be deemed to have broken the Code 60, based on Jean-Karl Vernay and Andy Priaulx’s penalties for the same offence earlier in the day, he’d get a ten-place penalty for the next race. Due to the unique format of this weekend, the next race is Race 1 is on Friday, where he only qualified 21st – while his strong qualifying results for Saturday’s Race 2 and 3 would be set to stand.