There was collisions, controversy and a whole lot of drama during the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) Race of Germany and the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of the Nurburgring (27-29 May).
To be honest, it was shaping up to be a nightmare weekend for me. In the WTCC, some sort of failure on my Honda caused a massive shunt at 220kph in free practice, necessitating an engine-change that resulted in a ten-place grid penalty and resigned me to 17th on the Opening Race grid.
The Castrol Honda Racing boys did a phenomenal job to repair the car, I had a little trip to the Medical Centre and all was fine by the time we reached qualifying.
We looked pretty quick in practice, but my Civic Type-R wasn’t the same and didn’t fill me with confidence after its brush with the barriers. I qualified seventh and successfully raced to fourth place in both the Opening and Main Races, which, considering how the week began, is pretty good going.
The main story of the Opening Race was the incident involving my teammate Tiago Monteiro and Citroen’s Yvan Muller; a tyre failure sent Tiago into a terrifying high-speed spin that saw him go airborne. Yvan simply had no way of avoiding the wayward Honda, contact was made and they were both out on the spot.
Thankfully, Tiago was unhurt, but the crash initiated a big debate over the durability and safety of the WTCC’s Yokohama tyres.
There was a lot of fuss and, although I believe this should be analysed and we do need a special ‘Nurburgring tyre’, I know my car is built to the highest level by a very professional set of people. I hit the wall hard in sixth gear and I didn’t even have a bruise or a stiff neck to show for it!
The fact is, we’re racing drivers and, if you’re concerned about your own safety, don’t race! It’s as simple as that.
However, the spotlight was also on Honda after WTCC stewards and the FIA Technical Delegate deemed the Civic Type-R TC1’s flat floors to be in breach of the championship’s technical regulations.
The team was disqualified from the Hungarian and Moroccan results and many were seeking my reaction to the exclusions, but I don’t feel it’s my place to comment; I just drive the car and the WTCC regulations and how Honda interprets them is effectively nothing to do with me.
Naturally, I’m very disappointed, but Castrol Honda Racing is adamant that its floors comply with the regulations and it will appeal in the coming weeks, although the decision is shameful for the fact that the WTCC revolves around its fans and yet, after a fantastic start to the season, there’s now a feeling that the ruling has denied us a good title fight.
I just wanted to get my head down and move on, and that’s pretty easy when you’ve got a Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz AMG GTS waiting to be driven in the Nurburgring 24 Hours!
I was due to test the car earlier in the week, but these plans were cancelled because – and you won’t believe me when I tell you – my plane’s cockpit windows smashed on take-off!
We turned around and made an emergency landing – a new experience for me – but I was unable to get a seat on another flight to Germany and my first taste of the car would be in qualifying on Friday (27 May).
Free practice was curtailed by a gearbox failure and an off for one of my co-drivers and my experience of the AMG GTS consisted of three qualifying laps – one more than my teammates, who know the car well.
The first session was primarily about making it into the top 30 in order to get a blue light, which is basically a permanent blue flag, but Indy Dontje did a great job to put us third.
However, the heavens opened at ‘The Green Hell’ just prior to the top-30 shootout on Friday night, so the idea was to simply complete two sensible laps and bring the car home, which we did in 28th.
It was always going to be an interesting 24 hours, but the start was unbelievable. The race had barely begun when, out of nowhere, massive amounts of ice fell from the sky; several cars crashed and countless others became stranded, their slick tyres unable to grip on what became an ice rink.
A long delay meant my first real run in the AMG GTS would be during the evening shift on a wet track, so my stint was purely about finding my feet and the limits, and I returned the car in 26th in class.
Unfortunately, that would be my one and only run in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, as a prop-shaft issue, which struck at dawn, was followed by a dramatic race-ending collision that left a Porsche on its roof.
In all honesty, I didn’t have any expectations for this weekend. The whole thing came together late and we took the race in our stride.
However, I was lucky enough to drive the Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3 in two 24-hour races and what I can say is that the AMG GTS is far more refined in every area. It’s quicker and smoother and it was a pleasure to drive, so I must thank Black Falcon for the opportunity.