Last weekend, we competed in the Renault Twingo Euro Cup at Salzburgring, one of the most unique circuits on the calendar. Unlike most tracks, Salzburgring features several long straights, making slipstreaming a huge factor and turning every race into a tactical battle. Another standout feature is the first chicane, where drivers must aggressively attack the kerbs to maximize lap time.
The weekend started strongly on Friday. In practice, we showed excellent pace and finished fastest, leading the session by more than 0.2 seconds.
Qualifying required a smart approach. With the long straights playing such a major role, maximizing the slipstream was crucial. We executed our strategy perfectly and secured pole position for Race 1.
Race 1 began with a clean start, allowing us to maintain the lead. However, the race was soon interrupted by a Safety Car after several drivers went five-wide on the back straight, resulting in heavy contact. Following the restart, we remained in contention for victory. At one stage we dropped back to third place due to the slipstream effect, but that was part of our strategy. In the closing laps, we executed several successful overtakes around the outside and fought our way back to the front, taking the victory.
For Race 2, the starting grid was determined by a reverse top-10 format from Race 1, meaning we lined up in P10. Once again, we made an excellent start and climbed to P2 within just two laps, immediately putting pressure on the race leader. Unfortunately, before the race could fully unfold, it was stopped due to strong winds and light rain.
It was disappointing not to see how the race would have developed, as our pace looked extremely promising. Nevertheless, it was a very successful weekend overall, highlighted by pole position, a race win, and strong speed throughout every session.
We now look forward to carrying this momentum into the next round at Autodrom Most.