Finnish touring car driver, Aku Pellinen, took his Niinivirta-backed WestCoast Racing Honda Civic TCR to solid points finishes in only his second weekend of racing on the international stage (23-24 April).
The 22-year old charger competently delivered seventh and sixth place results in a pair of assured performances in Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2016 TCR International Series at the historic Circuito do Estoril in Portugal.
Pellinen returns to front-wheel-drive cars after a season of competition in the Italian Porsche Carrera Cup and he has been quick to readjust and demonstrate that he is at home competing at such a high level of motorsport.
Free practice was encouraging and, despite limited running on unfamiliar territory due to intermittent rain, Pellinen put in a decent lap in qualifying that would see him seal sixth on the grid for the weekend’s main race, which would be reversed to P5 for the second encounter.
In the first race, Pellinen struggled to fully get to grips with his WestCoast Racing-prepared Honda Civic TCR and he complained of brake balance problems that were later diagnosed as a loss of front brakes.
These issues made the seventh position he achieved all the more creditable, particularly as he still managed to split FIA World Touring Car Independents’ Champion, James Nash, and WTCC race winner, Pepe Oriola, in the process.
The day’s second race saw Pellinen make a great start. He jostled for position towards the front of the field and flirted with the pit wall before settling into a battle with teammate and former Formula 1 driver, Gianni Morbidelli, and last year’s Vice Champion, Oriola.
The young Finn eventually brought his Honda home in sixth and that he was disappointed not to have finished farther up the timing screens shows how high he is setting the bar for himself.
“My car wasn’t right in the first race,” said Pellinen. “It was really difficult to drive and I did all I could to keep seventh position and hold back Pepe Oriola. As it turned out after the race, I only had rear brakes. The brake bias lever had moved somehow and I was totally unaware, as you cannot see it from the drivers’ seat.
“In race two, I got a really good start and pushed hard on the long run to the first corner, with a car pinning me against the pit wall. I held in there and battled through the first few laps with Gianni (Morbidelli) and Oriola, but my car just didn’t have the balance and pace. In the end I had a fairly quiet race and I was happy to get the car to the end in sixth.”
Aku Pellinen continues on to the home of the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, for Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2016 TCR International Series, which will be held in support of the FIA World Endurance Championship (6-7 May).