Stian Paulsen to sit out Oschersleben, Barcelona

Stian Paulsen has confirmed that he will miss the next two rounds of the TCR Europe season, with his focus on returning to the series for the Monza season finale.

The Cupra driver missed the opening round of the campaign in Hungary for budget reasons before starting his campaign in Germany – where he failed to finish either race.

After a top eight finish on the opening race at Spa, Paulsen endured mixed fortunes at the Red Bull Ring, retiring early on in race one after contact before a storming drive through from 18th on the grid to run fourth in race two ultimately ended in heartache when he suffered damper failure on the penultimate lap.

With limited budget in place for the remainder of the campaign, Paulsen will now sit out two rounds to focus on putting the funds in place for Monza, where he will hope for more improved fortune on track.

“We are happy we managed to start 18th and be in the fight for victory,” he said of the Red Bull weekend. “It should not really be possible in a field like this. It just show again that we belong up there, but due to all the qualifying issues this year, it has put us out of contention. We have had such bad luck that I shouldn’t be surprised it [the damper issue] happened.

“Now we have to work hard because the only thing I know about money at the moment is that I don’t have any, so the next race I will try to enter is the season finale in Italy at Monza.”