Tough Nürburgring Weekend for Kaan Önder

Kaan Önder, the Turkish national driver competing in the Audi Sport TT Cup, is now hoping for a better race weekend at Hockenheim after the technical problems he suffered at Germany's Nürburgring.

The electronic fault that had struck the 18-year-old's car at the previous event in Oschersleben, and which had never been fully cured, returned at the last minute before qualifying. Kaan was forced to take part in qualifying in a spare Audi TT that had not been set up to suit the driver and carried 20 kg more fuel than the other cars. Despite all these setbacks, he earned a 12th-place start for the first race and a 10th-place start for the second. In the first race on Saturday, again starting in the troublesome spare car, Kaan took the chequered flag in 11th place among the championship drivers.

For Sunday's second race, the driver decided to race in the team's own car despite the possibility of the electronic problems recurring. Moving up to ninth place, Kaan then picked up a drive-through penalty for a 10 cm line infringement at the start and finished the race in 17th.

Kaan's next races will take place at Hockenheim on 17 and 18 October. "It wasn't a good weekend for me and the problems just wouldn't leave me alone. First came the electronic faults in my own car, which we could never fully fix, and then I had to qualify and race in a spare car whose brake settings and balance were off. In the second race we took a risk and I started in my own car even though the problems hadn't been definitively resolved. A tiny line error at the start, which gave me no advantage at all, cost me a drive-through penalty and lost me a lot of time. We had come to the Nürburgring having worked very hard, but in motorsport these things can always happen to you."