The first round of the World Touring Car Series hosted by WSL and Puresims started on the sloping simple circuit at Red Bull Ring. This track always throws up great racing with battles of chess at speed but with the more relaxed penalty system being introduced after media day, how hectic could it get? But first qualifying.
The WTCS series starts with qualifying and then a reverse grid drawn at random from P1 to P24 after each race. So a good qualifying can set the evening up great. Tom, Ryan and Chris obtained 35th, 39th and 41st overall.
Race 1 was a feisty affair with hard side by side racing. But the NOMAD team were eager to put points on the board in the first race and did so with aplomb. Tom getting a high scoring 4th in class and 25th overall with Ryan and Chris finishing 7th and 11th in class respectively.
Race 2 was setup in very hot conditions, a stark contrast to the early morning cool of race one which ramped up the heat amongst the drivers. And to some of the NOMAD drivers to melting point. With the reversed grid, Pro drivers were making their way through the Am crowd and mistakes were being made. Unfortunately for Ryan, a tap on the rear at turn 2 sent him into 2 rival Am cars forcing him to tow and finish the race in a lowly 53rd. The luck of Chris and Tom did not last either as both were in involved in incidents, with Chris spinning a slow Pro at turn 10 and Tom getting unceremoniously dumped by another Pro at the infield section. Although they recovered well to P9 for Chris and P10 for Tom in class.
Race 3 and the team was just looking for a solid finish to end the day on a high note. The team had the pace for top 10 finishes and that was the aim. But unfortunately a crash at the start of the race split the field up giving Ryan a hard task to rescue valuable points. Tom and Chris made a decent gateway at the back end of that split. The track temperature was a sizzling 49C and the front wheel drive cars struggled to keep at optimal grip. Soon Chris and Tom were in a race of their own with a hard charging Ryan catching up on the last lap. It wrapped up the race nicely that 8th, 9th and 11th in class was secured by Tom, Chris and Ryan in order.
It is still early days in the championship but from the teams point of view second in the teams championship is a great start. Better luck in future races could prove more fruitful in the drivers standing.