James Nash Race of Hungary event summary

Nash goes hungry

James Nash, Ford Focus S2000 TC, Team Aon

Photo by: xpb.cc

James Nash left the Hungaroring on Sunday disappointed but determined to shine in future events after recording an 11th place finish and a late retirement in the two World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) races at the Budapest track.

The Ford Focus Team Aon driver made good starts, particularly in race one where he made up five places from his P12 grid slot at the first corner. Unfortunately, on what was his first-ever visit to the notoriously tricky Hungaroring circuit he fell back in each race, his lack of detailed knowledge of the venue compared to that of most of his rivals proving to be an insurmountable disadvantage on this occasion.

James Nash: “This weekend has been a challenge. In Free Practice we struggled to find a balance and then in Qualifying we threw everything into a single banzai lap which at least got us into Q2.”

“I made a great start in the opening race and got up to 7th but I just couldn’t hold on thereafter. Then in race two we were forced to retire the Team Aon Ford Focus with just a lap to go which was frustrating but it happens, even to the best of us.”

“Possibly after showing good speed in Slovakia people expected more from us but remember, nobody had driven the Slovakiaring before and we weren’t disadvantaged by being new to the WTCC. That wasn’t the case this weekend.”

“Nonetheless, all considered not a great weekend but we’ll come back stronger.” The next meeting on the 2012 WTCC calendar takes place at the Salzburgring in Austria on 19th and 20th May.