Photo: WTCR

Gabriele Tarquini: 50/50 chance of being back next year

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Outgoing World Touring Car Cup champion Gabriele Tarquini has given his prospects of remaining in the championship in 2020 a 50/50 chance, admitting he does not know how his future will unfold following this weekend’s Sepang season-finale.

Tarquini won the WTCR title in the series’ first year last season, but has slipped to sixth in the 2019 standings after a more difficult campaign.

The Italian touring car legend has continued to win races this season, however, and is playing an important supporting role to Hyundai team-mate Norbert Michelisz at Sepang as the Hungarian bids to clinch his first world title.

Although still a frontrunner and highly valued set of hands, at age 57 Tarquini is inevitably starting to see the end of his career, and confirmed to TouringCarTimes that a decision on his future will not be made until after the end of the current season.

Asked if there was a risk that this weekend could mark his last-ever outing in world touring cars, Tarquini replied:

“There’s always a risk, especially if you are 57! To be honest, like in the past, like in the last probably seven or eight seasons, I will decide myself, and I will do so after the last race. This season was not like last year, personally speaking. It was up and down, some technical problems, some mistakes, some accidents. But I am still there. This year we have a fantastic line-up of drivers, Augusto [Farfus] and Nicky [Catsburg] joining us – and I am there [in terms of performance]. Norbi [Michelisz] made a fantastic season, of course.”

Asked to quantify his chances of remaining on the grid in 2020, Tarquini rated them at 50/50.

“I want to continue. At this moment, I want to continue. I need to speak to Hyundai, because I definitely want to stay with them. They will decide what is the best place for me, but I need to wait on Hyundai’s people. After the final race, some weeks later we will sit down and talk about the future.”

Tarquini is set to start this weekend’s three races from seventh, sixth and fifth respectively. Along with a stated intention to support Michelisz’ drivers’ title charge, Tarquini is also trying to help his BRC Hyundai squad snatch the teams’ title away from struggling points leaders Cyan Racing Lynk & Co.