Thierry Neuville sets top 12 qualifying target

Four-time world rally championship runner-up Thierry Neuville has set himself the target of progressing into the second segment of qualifying for his first TCR Germany championship outing at the Nürburgring, following a promising Friday for the Belgian.

Neuville is making his high-level circuit racing debut this weekend, driving the VIP Hyundai i30 N TCR entered by Team Engstler.

Neuville impressively topped the timesheets in the first of Friday’s two practice sessions, and revealed to TouringCarTimes that he had done so using just two new tyres – opposing paddock speculation that he’d been running a full set of fresh Yokohamas.

“I used two new tyres in the first session this morning,” Neuville said, “and I was not the only one. We were six cars doing the same. All the cars under 1m35 had new tyres. It felt quite good. Probably tomorrow [in qualifying] we will start like this, with two used on the rear, two new on the front to make a good lap, so it was good to get a feel for that.”

Despite his impressive early form, however, Neuville – who finished the subsequent second practice session seventh fastest after conducting long runs on used tyres – has opted for a relatively modest approach heading into qualifying on Saturday morning.

“The first goal will be to go to Qualifying 2, so that means the top 12 [in Q1] tomorrow,” Neuville explained. “If we are in and we see that we’re competitive, then we will go for the highest place, but I know it will be hard. The other guys have so much more experience of the car and of the track, but I’m having fun. Let’s see.”