CUPRA EKS driver Adrien Tambay enjoyed a perfect Pool FURIOUS DHL Super Final to confirm his status as the first-ever FIA ETCR eTouring Car World Cup King of the Season in Sachsenring for Race DE.
Tambay enjoyed a faultless weekend and was only denied the King of the Weekend crown by team-mate Tom Blomqvist setting a faster lap time in qualifying – the tie-break decider with the pair scoring the same across an exciting weekend of racing at the superlative Saxony circuit.
The final race of the 2022 FIA ETCR season was a well-measured yet intense affair with Tambay leading from pole to chequered flag but having race-long attention from Hyundai Motorsport N’s Norbert Michelisz, who himself was kept honest by Romeo Ferraris man Luca Filippi.
Filippi’s team-mate, Bruno Spengler was a man on a move at the start, vaulting a brace of Spaniards to pass CUPRA EKS man Jordi Gené and Hyundai Motorsport N’s Mikel Azcona.
As the field spread, so Spengler found himself too far away from Filippi ahead, but far enough away from the battling Spaniards behind, with Azcona finally making it past Gené at the end of the fourth lap, despite Azcona lacking Power Up assistance.
Just seven tenths separated the top three across the line, with Tambay taking his win of the season by 0.468secs from Michelisz, with Filippi just two tenths further back. The first-ever FIA ETCR eTouring Car World Cup King of the Season has been crowned!
The result confirmed a superlative season for CUPRA EKS, with Tambay heading team-mates Mattias Ekström and Tom Blomqvist in the top three of the season standings, and CUPRA EKS finishing top of the Manufacturer standings by 1076 points, with Hyundai Motorsport taking second place by just 14 points from Romeo Ferraris, 746 vs 732.
Pool FURIOUS DHL Super Final Grid
Pool FURIOUS DHL Super Final Results
Adrien Tambay CUPRA EKS
This feels great. To be honest I put a lot of pressure on myself this weekend. as at the end of the day, it’s an FIA World Cup title. I’ve been quick in my career, winning races in every category, but managing to win a title is never easy, especially when on this category you have six events, but there are so many races where you have to score points, and even in qualifying you get points. So you need to be so consistent and that means that the pressure is so very high. At the end of the day, I have to say it was a relief to cross the finish line in P1 and even though I had the title before the race, it was really nice to be able to to have a last shot that victory and to be honest, also in the last weekend get 100 points which is something I didn’t do before.
Norbert Michelisz Hyundai Motorsport N
It was a very solid race weekend – probably my best of the season, and it’s always nice to finish the year like this. It was a season mainly about learning and adapting myself to this new challenge, and I enjoyed every moment. We had some really tough ones, but I really feel now we are at the end that this is the best version of me as a driver. It’s always the most important thing for me to finish a year in this way. I’m very happy with the podium, I think I deserved it this weekend. I didn’t make mistakes and the pace was good. I really hope this journey will continue.
Luca Filippi Romeo Ferraris
In terms of performance, it has been my best weekend of the season. I have been super competitive the whole weekend, and the car felt great. And I think I drove well, confidently and comfortable all the time. It was a tough battle between top three, so congratulations at the end for the win and the championship. When I tried my move to try to win the Semi Final, I’m sure that was the key point of the weekend. If I was able to finish that move, that would have been the turning point and the big chance for us to win, because unfortunately in the DHL Super Final – from where we started we finished in the top three, but the pace was so close that I couldn’t overtake. Overall, I’m very happy so thanks the team for all their efforts for all the season.
Bruno Spengler Romeo Ferraris
In the end I had a pretty good start and could move to P4 after the first corner which was positive and then I stayed there. I think we improved a little bit in the DHL Super Final which was positive and to come from P6 to P4 was okay. I’m not 100% happy about the whole weekend and I think it’s a bit sad that we could not achieve more points to finish second in the Manufacturers’ standings which would have been awesome as we fought really hard for it. In the end, it was not enough and would have been awesome for the whole team the hard work they have done all the year long, night and day, to give them the second place in the championship, but we will come back stronger and fight better.
Mikel Azcona Hyundai Motorsport N
Race DE in two words: bad luck. It was a very difficult weekend for us, especially for me. I did an amazing lap in Qualifying but unfortunately after scrutineering, we were disqualified. That meant I was going into the races last in the standings, but I managed to win with my incredibly competitive car. Unfortunately my win in the Quarter Final was taken away from me, and what can I say about the Super Final. We were fighting for third in the championship, I came here on full attack and tried my best to secure it. However, even without Power Up, the Hyundai Veloster N ETCR was mega strong. If I had my boost, I think I could have won – I felt incredibly fast.
Jordi Gené CUPRA EKS
Very happy to be part of this team that has won absolutely everything this season. I’m always here to help. I’ve been, I think a good team player in all races, happy for my result in Jarama for example, but all of the other races I tried to score as many points as possible. I helped my team-mates and this achievement has been great for all of us.
Race DE King of the Weekend Sachsenring Standings
Provisional Drivers’ Season Standings
Provisional Manufacturers’ Season Standings
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