Tarquini’s stunning debut

ZHEJIANG (PRC) OCTOBER 8

ROUND 9/10

YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO TRY new things, as 55-year-old Gabriele Tarquini proved last weekend by giving the brand-new TCR Hyundai a victory on his – and the car’s – series debut.

The i30 had been given something called a ‘temporary homologation form’, which meant that although Alain Menu and Tarquini took a one-two in opening qualifying, they were not eligible for the top-12 shootout and had to start from the seventh row of the grid.

Tarquini stormed through the field and took the lead from the Craft Bamboo SEAT of Pepe Oriola just past half-distance. The fading Oriola was then muscled aside by the Leopard Racing VW of Jean-karl Vernay – a move that allowed the sister Golf of

Rob Huff through – before the Spaniard moved across on the West Coast Racing VW of Gianni Morbidelli, who wasn’t deterred and shouldered his way past.

With the Hyundais ineligible for points, Vernay – who was protected by Huff – claimed a maximum score to provide him with a huge boost in the title race against pre-weekend series leader Attila Tassi, who claimed a solitary point aboard his M1RA Honda.

James Nash emerged from the first-lap barging in race two to pull out an enormous lead in his Craft Bamboo SEAT. Frederic Vervisch was holding everyone else up with his Audi, the field in his wake resorting to banger racing – partly due to the scenic-and-hilly, brand-new Zhejiang circuit packing 16 corners into its tortuous two miles.

Once Huff and Morbidelli had battered their way to the fore, they hunted down the fading Nash, who could not hold them back. Menu was fourth, a BOP adjustment hitting the Hyundais with 40kg of ballast and a 5% reduction in power. Tassi was down in ninth, while Vernay pitted with a puncture.