Jean-Karl Vernay eager to send WRT out “on a high”

Jean-Karl Vernay says he hopes that the WRT will be able to exit the World Touring Car Cup on a high this weekend when the Audi squad competes in the series for the final time.

The Belgian squad revealed earlier this week that it was to end its TCR programme to focus its commitments in both the DTM and GT competition.

Vernay has raced with WRT for the past four seasons in TCR, winning the TCR International Series title in 2017 and finishing second in TCR Europe last year.

The Frenchman also took four wins in WTCR last season to end the year fifth in the standings and could secure the same position if results go his way in Malaysia.

“It’s the last race of the season, and also the closing of a very nice chapter in my career, four seasons in TCR and with the team, so I really would like to finish on a high,” he said. “It hasn’t been an easy season, but we always managed to take the best possible out of every situation.

“Theoretically, we can still fight for P5 in the Drivers’ standings, that would be great, and for first among VW Group drivers, as Azcona is only 3 points ahead of us. Sepang is quite a fast track, I raced there in the TCR International Series in 2016 and I loved it.

“This year, it has been quite difficult to predict the Audi’s competitiveness on each track, and we know we do not have anymore the advantage we had on the straights, but I think we should be ok there, and let’s take all our chances!”

Sporting director Pierre Dieudonné added that he hoped the team would be able to end a “challenging season” with three strong results.

“As committed professionals, the whole team is determined to do well in this last round and finish the season and our tenure in TCR on a positive note,” he said. “We had a challenging season and have been faced with an uneven playing field, but the team has never lost motivation and has always reacted with great professionalism. We’ll see what happens at Sepang and the good thing is that we will only have 10 kgs of compensation weight.

“The format for the weekend will be a challenge and no mistakes will be allowed on Sunday, with the three races almost on a sequence. It will be the round that will decide the titles, with a number of different contenders, so nobody will hide its cards and will give everything, and that will certainly have an impact on how the races will develop.”