Jimmy Clairet fired up after positive progression in Valencia

ALM Motorsport’s Jimmy Clairet took advantage of the track time available to make the most of his first day driving a Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR, scoring the fastest lap time in the second free practice session for the World Tour event in Valencia.

“Today was a bit complicated for me because it was my first day with the Honda,” Clairet told TouringCarTimes. “Luckily, we had the three-hour test this morning to discover the car but, unfortunately, we didn’t put new tyres on the car because of a question of money.”

The situation progressed forward as the Frenchman was able to use new tyres for the first free practice.

“We then came to FP1 to discover the car with full new tyres, so I could have more confidence in the car, to be faster than in the morning,” he said.

“In FP2 I put together everything that I had understood since this morning to have quite a good lap time and to use all the capacity of the car.”

The ALM Motorsport driver was surprised to be fastest among the tough competition and is targeting a Q2 result.

“Everybody is really fast, they are all good drivers with a lot of kilometres in the car,” he said.

“So I know qualifying will be a bit different with the order, but I think I can target Q2 and maybe P8 or P9, which I think it’ll be the best I can do.”

Clairet also believes a podium finish in Race 2 is an achievable target.

“Why not? If I can get to the front row for Race 2 it will be amazing for me. And, for sure, I don’t have anything to play in this championship, so I just want to have the maximum pressure in the race without having an accident. Now the qualifying is the most exciting part of the weekend, so let’s see what happens.”