EAGERLY AWAITED AUDI SPORT TT CUP OPENING ROUNDS OFFERING PLENTY OF PROMISE FOR BRITISH HOPE CAYGILL
Josh Caygill makes a swift return to Hockenheim in Germany next week in readiness for the opening two rounds of the 2016 Audi Sport TT Cup season, which take place on 7th/8th May, where the Briton is eyeing a very strong start to the category’s sophomore campaign.
Returning to the high-profile championship, a key support category to the immensely popular DTM touring car series, with designs on mounting a serious challenge for regular podiums this year, the British driver is targeting a consistently competitive beginning to his 2016 bid.
Official pre-season testing, which also included qualifying and race simulations, took place at Hockenheim a couple of weeks ago and Josh certainly set his stall out well with an impressive front-running effort across all sessions.
Inside the top six in practice, he went on to finish fifth in a race simulation where the lead quintet had an advantage over the rest of the pack. Notably, the top five all lapped within just a few thousandths of a second of each other to underline how tight this season should be at the sharp end of the grid.
Determined to build on that pleasing performance when he arrives back in Germany next week, the 26-year-old knows the level will be ratcheted up another notch for the first qualifying session of the season but he is quietly confident of being in the mix for the first two or three rows on the grid.
“We’re definitely up there where we want to be, if the test day and race sim were anything to go by, as the top five of us were very close”, said the West Yorkshireman, “There really was nothing in it at all with the lap times, incredibly evenly matched, so that was a very positive start for us and a big improvement on where we were 12 months ago.
“After looking through the data, I know where improvements can be made but the main thing is the speed is there and it looks like we’re going to be competitive at Hockenheim. Obviously, everyone is going to up their game from the test day but I’m happy with how things have gone up to now and really looking forward to the first two races – they should be fantastic.”
Josh again runs with the trusty No.14 on his yellow and white Audi this season with continued backing from key sponsors Vancraft, Volkswagen Van Centre West Yorkshire, SMUK Auto Electrical Engineers, BHP Clough & Company Chartered Accountants, Integro, Tog 24 and Audi Financial Services.
Following free practice on Friday, 6th May, qualifying for the opening races of the Audi Sport TT Cup season will take place at 08.05 (local time) on Saturday, 7th May, ahead of round one at 11.10 (local time). On Sunday, 8th May, round two will get underway at 15.20 (local time).
