Aditya finishes sixth in first round of Volkswagen Cup

HOCKENHEIM - India’s Aditya Patel finished the opening round of the Volkswagen Scirocco Cup touring car racing series here after having qualified a creditable sixth in a field that included some legendary drivers.

After a very successful practice session where he managed to lead the grid at first and second place, and qualifying at an all time high of fourth for the race, Aditya managed to drive a strong race against some of the world’s best touring car professionals Saturday.

Speaking to IANS, the 21-year old, Chennai-born Aditya attributed his strong performance to his interaction with former double World rally champion Carlos Sainz who, incidentally, finished 12th.

“I had the chance to interact with Sainz and he shared his data. That really helped. On the track, I exchanged leads with him four times and it was a great experience,” said Aditya.

Looking back, he said: “Practice obviously went pretty well for me. Five minutes into the session, I set the fastest time. This time stood till the chequered flag dropped when Kris Heidorn set a spectacularly fast lap! Anyhow, it was good to be second and after analyzing the data along with Sainz, we shared our ideas and decided what would be best way to go in for qualifying.”

The qualifying session went off well for Aditya as he got the hang of “push-to-pass” button that can be used nine times in the session, but he met traffic on his fast lap and settled for fourth on the grid.

Narrating his race run, Aditya said: “Due to the lack of time between qualifying and the race, we couldn’t analyze our data, so I kept focused on finishing this race. I got off to a good start and challenged Maciek Steinoff for third place on the second corner but was pushed wide.

“I kept fourth place till Ola Nillson wisely used the push to pass button after the hairpin on lap 2 and came charging down the inside into Turn 8. Again, he outbraked himself and I was forced wide. This allowed Adam Gladysz, Timmy Megenbier and Sainz to pass me.

“After a strong four-lap battle with Carlos Sainz, exchanging position four times, I managed to find my way past and keep it that way. By lap 8, I was behind Megenbier and by using the push-to-pass button where he least expected it, I managed to get ahead. Next was Gladysz - He is a master at defensive driving. Though my pace was quicker than his, I couldn’t find my way past and had to settle for sixth. Martin Brundle (former F1 driver), who finished third, doesn’t receive points as he’s a legend driver.”