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| The sun rose on the Championship and a new era for Team SEAT and Kptk92 at Infineon Raceway on Wednesday |
Kptk92 hailed his SEAT team for bouncing back from a devastating start to the day to take 4 wins out of 5 in the opening BTCC event at Infineon Raceway.
The race day started off with a massive low as SEAT's leading driver o0o JAM1E o0o shocked the paddock by announcing a last-gasp switch to Honda Racing and SEAT was left scrambling to find a replacement while preparing race at the same time. But any feeling of disappointment was replaced with elation as Kptk92 took up the lead driver role with style, winning all but the reverse grid race. It leaves Kptk92 with a healthy Championship lead and SEAT sitting on top of the Manufacturers Championship.
The new Championship leader couldn't contain his delight. "I think the past 12 hours alone have been a massive rollercoaster for the team, let alone the preparation and effort that has gone in during the testing period to get to where we are right now. It's an incredible feeling to give the team the perfect remedy for Jamie's departure and hopefully I've sent a message to Jamie himself that he's made a big mistake to leave this team. In Race 1 I was incredibly fortunate with a collision between the leaders on the final corner to gift me the win but you need to be in the right place at the right time and I was, luckily. That just set me up for the rest of the night, the car had phenomenal speed throughout the night and that made it easier to hold off the guys behind."
And not even two collisions with his new team-mate roryb3 in race 3 dampened Kptk92's spirits. "Obviously you don't want to crash into your team-mate ever but both times we got away with it really. The first incident I was trying to back out as I knew I was going to struggle for room but there was nothing I could do when Rory tapped the brake, we were so close that I couldn't avoid contact. On the final corner me and Jordan (x Shuffle) were battling for position and I saw Rory turning in and once again I tried to back out but there was nothing I could do again. It didn't help that he braked massively early but he didn't lose any positions over it so the team will be happy. But I'm not going to dwell on it for too long, these things can happen and when the rest of the day has been fantastic I guess I could get away with something like that for once."
Asked whether he could maintain the Championship lead, Kptk92 replied: "Well I've set myself up nicely now for the rest of the campaign and the car is in the mix for victories again so we have to be thankful for that. Everyone is going to be a lot closer at Sunset Peninsula next week so qualifying high will be very important. The Chevrolet and the Vauxhalls will probably be the ones to watch out for, Troggy has a great track record at Sunset in the past and Jordan will probably want to get back in the hunt as early as possible so it's going to be very competitive. I'm not expecting a repeat result like today for the rest of the season, it was just a one-off."
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