Germany’s world-famous Nurburgring hosts the penultimate race meeting of the Audi Sport TT Cup season next weekend, 26th/27th September, where British racer Josh Caygill is eyeing a continuation of the form which delivered his first podium in one-make car racing just a few days ago.
Off the back of a magnificent top three points finish at Oschersleben last weekend, the Netherton driver goes into rounds nine and 10 holding an enhanced sixth position in the standings and with a real hike in confidence after two superb race performances.
Progressing well throughout the first half of the inaugural TT Cup campaign, the 26-year-old has gradually built his pace, coupled with an increasing understanding of his 310bhp Audi, and after last weekend’s superb outing he very much has the taste for more podium champagne.
“I’m still buzzing from Oschersleben if I’m honest”, said the former British SuperSport motorcycle racer, “It was a mega weekend, everything went right from the start with top four performance in practice, top five in qualifying and then my first podium in the opening race. I couldn’t have asked for much more really.
“Obviously, the aim is to repeat that at the Nurburgring and hopefully challenge up at the front again by building on what we did last weekend. I really felt at Oschersleben I made a bit of a breakthrough with the car, just understanding things more, and that showed right from practice. If I can push for the top five or six in qualifying again, I’ll be happy with that and we should race well from there.”
As well as producing excellent pace last weekend, Josh also displayed some superb racecraft in his yellow and silver No.14 Audi TT Cup car. The progress thus far has been marked in his second year of competition in Europe, only his third season in cars since switching from two-wheeled racing, and the West Yorkshireman is now determined to close the gap to the series top five.
Going into the penultimate event of 2015, Josh is 23.5 points behind Christoph Hofbauer but Joonas Lappalainen is only three points further ahead in fourth place. While the gap to close to the chief title contenders is large, Josh did score 32 points over the course of the Oschersleben weekend.
“My main focus next weekend is to just go out and take the best results I can, but it would be great to stay in the top six in the championship and try to push further towards the five ahead”, added Josh, “That won’t be easy as there are so many quick and experienced drivers in this championship, but we’ll be giving it a good go!”
Free practice at the Nurburgring will take place at 15.25 (local time) on Friday, 25th September, with qualifying scheduled to begin at 13.55 (local time) on Saturday, 26th September, ahead of round nine which is set to start at 17.00 (local time).
On Sunday, 27th September, round 10 will commence at 15.25 (local time) and both races will be screened live HERE
Provisional 2015 Audi Sport TT Cup Driver Standings (after Rd8): 6th Josh Caygill, 76pts
