The last race of his full-time racing career was not positive for Gabriele Tarquini.
The FIA WTCR in Sochi closed its doors in the rain, in a very difficult weekend not only for the ‘Cinghar’, but in general for all Hyundai.
On board the Elantra N branded BRC, the Abruzzese started by being honored with the ‘tunnel of glory’ at the start of the Free Practice by all the rivals, then we worked hard to try to get a good result in worthy conclusion of an extraordinary motorsport story.
Unfortunately, already in Qualifying it was seen that Tarquini was in difficulty in managing his vehicle and the 16th place for both Russian races was the bitter verdict.
“Unfortunately, Qualifying did not go as I would have liked. The car in slippery conditions and with wet tires was not competitive, we struggled a lot to manage the wear of the front wheels and it probably weighed heavily on having ballast between Compensation Weight and Balance of Performance “, explains the native of Giulianova.
“I also admit that I put my own into it, I made some mistakes in the final lap and I finished very far from Q1, the 16th place confirms it”.
“This immediately put us in difficulty for the races, on the other hand we all suffered and only Vernay was able to start from the Top 10. Good Jean-Karl for the third place in the championship, it was clearly not our goal, but it’s always better than nothing “.
Gabriele Tarquini, BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR
Photo by: WTCR
For his part, Tarquini cannot be satisfied with a placement in the points in Race 1, but added to a retirement in Race 2 for one … ‘slip’ in the wet, curiously mistaken also made by his alter ego, Yvan Muller, little first.
“Obviously my two races were very difficult, starting from this far back you could see absolutely nothing and in the restarts from the Safety Car the visibility was practically zero”.
“It wasn’t clear where we were, I tried to keep myself out of trouble, but unfortunately I didn’t. I made a mistake by locking the front tires, I’m sorry I hit Jordi Gené who had nothing to do with it.”
Raised the white flag, Tarquini brought his Hyundai back to the pits once the checkered one was waved. Mockingly, the hood of the damaged Elantra flew open in his face, as if to underline that it just wasn’t the day!
“Unfortunately my career ended as it had begun: with an accident! It wasn’t the ending we wanted, but when I think about that episode I get half a smile.”
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Team Principal Gabriele Rizzo added: “First of all I want to thank the team for their hard work over this long season, but a special thanks goes to Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing for the fantastic support they have gave us. In Sochi it was a great event, at the home of our sponsor LUKOIL. And then I want to pay homage to Gabriele, his final race was a thrill for all of us and I want to thank him for his exceptional career, so many compliments “.
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