WestCoast Racing’s newest recruit, Aku Pellinen, has high hopes for this weekend’s TCR International Series round in Estoril, Portugal (23-24 April) after a strong debut performance in Bahrain.
Pellinen adapted well to his new surroundings in what was not only his first race in the championship, but also his first race for the renowned Swedish team, WestCoast Racing.
The talented Finnish driver put in strong performances across the weekend’s races to impress his new team; claiming a fifth place finish in race one and the final podium spot in race two, Pellinen was handed a 30-second penalty that demoted him to 11th for an alleged jump start.
Despite the disappointment of race two, his pace across the race weekend in Bahrain was good enough to battle for wins and the young Finn sees this weekend’s race meeting at Circuito do Estoril in Portugal as the perfect opportunity to do just that.
“I’m fully motivated to better the strong performances I put in in Bahrain and I will push as hard as possible” said Pellinen, “The Honda Civic TCR suits me well. Before the last race I said I just wanted to finish as close to my teammates as possible and get some miles in the car. It gives me great confidence going into this weekend knowing I was able to meet and surpass those two objectives. The Estoril circuit is new to me but I have spent a lot time in the simulator so I feel comfortable with the track. Plus, having teammates like Kevin (Gleason) and Gianni (Morbidelli) to learn from gives me further confidence.
“This weekend, the main aim is to continue to pick up championship points. I currently sit in seventh place in the championship and this weekend is a good chance to shorten the gap to those above and move up. If I can manage to get on the podium this weekend and the team has a strong weekend, I will be really happy.”
The second round of the 2016 TCR International Series takes place on 23-24 April, with Sunday’s races starting at 11:25 local time and 17:05 local time.
Live streaming of both encounters will be available on the official www.tcr-series.com website, where you can also follow all the news during the build-up to this weekend’s race action.