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Milovan Vesnić achieved third and fourth place respectively in the opening round of 2021 season at Hungaroring. What are his impressions from the opening round? You can read that and much more in our interview.
Milovan, you finished 3rd in Race 1 at Hungaroring and you were 4th in Race 2. Now, you are third in overall standings. How are you happy with the opening round of 2021 season?
I´m not happy at all. And it´s not a problem of my performance or speed of the car… The big problem of the first round were driving standards of some drivers and also strange standards from stewards and race director.
In Race 1, you had a collision with Michal Makeš after the start. Did you speak with him about it? And is everything okay now?
I didn´t have any collision… Makeš hit me. I didn´t hit anybody. It happened without any reason. I was inside and in front… Everybody saw that except Makeš and race director. I dropped to 7th position because of that and I have a damaged car. Makeš finished second with any penalty for his unsportsmanlike action. Yes, we spoke after the race. He was sorry and he told me he didn´t see me. As I said, I´m not happy about that and I just can hope he will be more careful in the future.
I was in the similar situation with Ghermandi in Race 2. He pushed me in the chicane in Lap 1 and I dropped to 9th position. Then, I recovered again, caught him and lost six laps trying to overtake him. He was all over the track, pushed me two more times out of the track and again without any reaction of stewards and race director. He also apologised after the race, but from all those excuses I have only bad results and damaged car. Strange, very strange standards.
Giacomo Ghermandi made his debut in TCR Eastern Europe at Hungaroring.
You race with new car this season – Audi RS 3 LMS TCR. How are you happy with the behaviour of the car in the opening round? Are there still any issues, for example, or is everything okay?
Yes, I´m very happy with the car. We have only a problem to adapt on new Hankook tires and to learn how they work during the qualifying and during the race.
How did you enjoy Race 2 with the reversed grid?
It´s a show for spectators and a chance for some slower drivers and for the drivers who had some problem in Race 1. But as you saw, the fastest was again on the top. It´s good only for to make fast guys slower, as a compensation weight. It´s interesting to watch but not to drive.
Was your approach to Race 2 different than the approach to Race 1 in any way?
After two hits in Lap 1 of both races, my approach was only to get the car to the finish on the best possible position. The tactics fell down after few corners, the rest of the race was about surviving.
Tomáš Pekař returned to the championship at Hungaroring. He won the qualifying and both races. Are you happy he is back?
Yes, of course. We need the drivers like him. He is fast and have a lot of experience. He didn´t make any mistake and have enough luck in both races.
Aren´t you worried the domination of Pekař will continue in the next rounds? Or do you believe it was only one good weekend for him and you can fight with him for the title?
We will see. You can´t talk about that after one race weekend, especially after the one like Hungaroring.
Milovan Vesnić is happy in terms of Tomáš Pekař´s return.
In previous seasons, you raced with Cupra Leon TCR car. Now, the two drivers of Cupra are on the top two positions of the championship standings. It was only first round, but how do you feel it? For example, do you regret you won´t stay with Cupra now?
First, you have to know that Hungaroring is not an ideal circuit for car like Audi. In qualifying, I was faster this year than last year with Cupra and I could be faster. But I made one mistake in fast lap and lost a few tenths. If you watched the race you saw how I made a comeback from 7th position in Race 1 and from 9th place in Race 2. As I said, I´m happy with the car so far.
I´m not happy with 60 kg of compensation weight for Slovakia and I´m not happy with more 20 kg plus 10 millimeters on height of the car according to the latest BoP for Audi from TCR. We will drive 80 kg heavier in Slovakia. But for sure, we will fight. But if other drivers will again show unsportsmanlike driving standards, we will have to take down all the masks.
Milovan Vesnić is happy with his new Audi so far.
