Luca Engstler focussed on damage limitation following qualifying issues

M1RA driver Luca Engstler says his focus for this weekend’s penultimate TCR Europe series round at Barcelona is on “scoring points” and not the championship following a difficult qualifying session.

The German will start both today’s first race and tomorrow’s encounter from 12th after technical issues blighted his practice and qualifying performances.

He told TouringCarTimes: “For the championship we don’t look [at it] at all because since FP1 we have had technical problems. The rain helped us a lot because otherwise with 15kph less on the straight, you end up P29, so I did what I could.

“I was driving my arse off and trying to get the car on a spot in the top ten. The team is also working its ass off to solve the issues, so I have to say thanks to them because it’s not their fault, it’s nobody’s fault.

Engstler added: “We just have to find a solution to the problem and hope for the best. We don’t see the issue in the data, we just see that we are losing speed on the straights, which is a lot on a track like Barcelona.”

Despite the issues hampering the top end speed of his Hyundai i30 N TCR, Engstler was happy with the balance of his car during qualifying. But anticipating a difficult weekend ahead of him, Engstler’s focus turned to limiting the damage.

“We had to retire from FP1 and FP2 and I have never been on this track before,” he said.

“We had a good setup in qualifying, it felt amazing but as soon as you go on the straight, you don’t have the power.

“We’ve had too many DNFs this year to be thinking about the championship but we are hoping to score some good points anyway this weekend.

“That’s the goal, I will try everything. Even if we have 15kph less on the straights, I told the guys that I will go out and do my best. We will give the maximum, there is nothing more we can do at the moment.”