The seventh meeting of the inaugural TCR International Series took place this weekend (20-21 June) at the Sochi Autodrom – the home of the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix and venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics – and there was little cause for celebration for WestCoast Racing.
With WestCoast defending second place in the Teams’ Championship following a win for Kevin Gleason in Austria, the Swedish team knew it was in for a difficult weekend, with both Gleason and his Italian teammate Gianni Morbidelli carrying success ballast that would encumber the performance and handling of their Honda Civic TCRs.
Practice and qualifying proved the team’s expectations to be well-founded, as its regular drivers and debutant, Ildar Rakhmatulin, struggled to make an impact on the timesheets.
The only glimmer of encouragement came when Gleason once again achieved the reversed grid pole position, which helped him net the victory at the Salzburgring.
Race one saw Morbidelli finish as the highest-placed WestCoast Racing driver in seventh, while Gleason jumped two spots on the final lap to come home in Morbidellli’s wheel tracks in eighth and the unfortunate Rakhmatulin retired to the pits with only two laps to go.
Sadly, Morbidelli was sidelined by a turbo fault, unable to take up his grid position despite the best efforts of the hard working Swedish crew to resolve the problem as the race got underway.
However, Gleason was having his battles on the track. After losing out at the start and dropping three places, he was combative in moving back up the order before falling into the clutches of Pepe Oriola’s SEAT.
A race-long battle with Jordi Gene eventually went the way of the Spaniard who pulled a dubious and aggressive move after a stout defence from Gleason, whose sixth place would be the best finish for WestCoast Racing during a tough weekend.
Gleason said: “I had a slow start to the weekend on a track I had not seen or tested on and, having arrived late into Russia after a 23-hour journey, I was up against it from the start. Despite carrying maximum ballast, I got stronger and matched Gianni (Morbidelli) for times in race one. In the second race I think I showed I am getting stronger in race situations, particularly in defending my position. In the end we haven’t lost too much ground in the championship, as we scored points in both races where others didn’t.”
Morbidelli added: “We struggled to get a good setup all weekend and had a lot of understeer, which seems to be the case when the temperatures are hot. I did what I could but that wasn’t really enough and the mechanical issue in race two has put us back in the championship.”
WestCoast Team Manager, James Nixon, concluded: “That was the toughest weekend of the championship so far; the circuit was probably the worst on the Calendar to carry success ballast and we had mechanical issues with Gianni’s car and a big effort from all the guys sadly didn’t result in a resolution. We will regroup for the Red Bull Ring and I hope to have a chance to undertake some testing beforehand.”
The next round of the TCR International Series will take place on a revised date and at a new venue, as the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria becomes the latest addition to the calendar in lieu of the now cancelled Race of Argentina.
For more information on WestCoast Racing, please visit the officialwww.westcoastracing.se website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page and follow@WestCoast Racing on Twitter.