Two second places consolidate table lead

After taking second place in qualifying, Frank Kechele went on to claim second place in both races at the Nürburgring last weekend, thus maintaining his lead in the table.

Two free practice sessions were scheduled for Friday: the first in the morning at half past eight, the second at half past two in the afternoon. After remaining in second place following the first practice session, Kechele upped his position to first place in the second session, promising a good result in qualifying.

Saturday morning was qualifying time. In fine weather conditions, Kechele was in second place after the first timed practice session. “I couldn’t really make the most of my tyres because I didn’t get them warmed up enough. And by the time they were hot enough, they’d already lost the optimum grip so I was just five hundredths of a second off P1,” said the young driver, explaining why he didn’t make it to pole position.
In the second qualifying session, he took second place again. This time, the team had increased the pressure in the tyres to make better use of them, but Kechele made a slight error on his fastest lap, missing pole position again by just three hundredths of a second.

The first race kicked off on Saturday afternoon under bright blue skies. Kechele got away well at the start, but failed to pass the leading driver. Piling pressure on the leader on the very first lap, he missed the racing line on a corner and ended up with dirt on his tyres. By the time he had cleaned off the tyres again, the first car had already opened up a large lead. Although Kechele managed to get up to within 1.1 seconds and grab the fastest lap time, it was no longer enough to claim the victory.

On Sunday he started off in second position again. Supported by a crowd of friends, who had travelled there for the occasion, Kechele made an excellent start. But the leader cleverly blocked the inside line. The third-placed driver sped up from behind and braked too late. To avoid a collision, Kechele opted for the outside and managed to hold on to his second place. During the remainder of the race, Kechele kept up the pressure on the driver in front, but overtaking was impossible without a mistake on the part of his rival. In this race, he also achieved the fastest lap time but, again, it was not enough for a win. However, Kechele remains in first place in the table.

In one and a half weeks’ time, the team will be heading to England. The Donington circuit is known for being extremely slippery – so it is set to be one of the toughest Eurocup races.