Slovakia is the next stop for Andy Priaulx in his Cyan Racing-prepared Lynk & Co 03 TCR and he knows the Slovakia Ring is going to be a tough track for all of the competitors in the third round of the FIA World Touring Car Cup. He is looking forward to the WTCR Race of Slovakia and is feeling positive as he explained: “I have visited the iZone Performance Centre simulator at Silverstone this week to get up to speed with this track. It is quite technical, with very fast sections and it looks like a great circuit with a long lap.” Reflecting on the season so far Andy’s comments were: “I am still waiting for that illusive podium as I get used to racing in this exciting series, but if feel very positive. After Hungary I know this is possible, as in Q1 I was only a few hundredths off pole and in third. I am having to learn a new discipline, get used to a new championship, new team and new engineers, but I feel I am much closer to the pace in terms of performance. I am fighting hard, feel I have been a bit unlucky at times, but with such a professional team round me I know we can get up there to the top of the time sheets.” The 5.922 kilometre (3.680 mile) Slovakia Ring is about 40 kilometres east of the capital Bratislava. The circuit was built between 2008 and 2009, opened in 2010 and the FIA World Touring Car Championship raced there between 2012 and 2016. After a gap of a year it was included in the WTCR calendar in 2018. It is a very popular race with the fans and last year 32,000 of them turned up. The itinerary for the WTCR Race of Slovakia 2019 is different to the first two events with practice and qualifying on Friday, 10th May and the race on Sunday 12th May, as there is an endurance race at the track on the Saturday.
Free practice 1 is from 09.15 to 10.00, free practice 2 from 11.30 to 12.00, qualifying from 16.40 to 17.00 (Q1), 17.05 to 17.15 (Q2) with the first car going at 17.20 for Q3. The first nine-lap race on Sunday is at 10.45, the second, which is also nine laps, starts at 15.15, while the final 11-lap race is at 16.45. All these times are local and an hour ahead of BST.