Jean-Karl secures PURE ETCR King of the Weekend
Our team is celebrating our strongest round of PURE ETCR as we topped the King and Manufacturer of the Weekend standings at the Pau-Arnos E-Circuit.
In a fantastic 1-2 finish at the dramatic final round of the season, Jean-Karl topped the points standings across both Pools with team-mate Augusto alongside him.
Our Director of Marketing and PR, Stefan Ph. Henrich, said: “We had a clear target this weekend to chase down our first King of the Weekend title, and we have emphatically succeeded. With two drivers topping their respective Pools, we have shown the competitive package that is the Veloster N ETCR around a completely unknown circuit.”
King Jean-Karl
Jean-Karl entered the weekend as one of five drivers in contention for the inaugural PURE ETCR drivers’ crown, but despite his best efforts the Frenchman narrowly missed out on the title by just four points.
After claiming a win in the head-to-head Round 2, Jean-Karl qualified on the second row of the Pool B Super Final grid. As the two cars ahead collided in the opening lap, he managed to avoid the carnage in front of him and claim the lead of the race – which he would never relinquish in a fantastic finish to his weekend in Pau-Arnos.
“I think we showed really good pace with the Hyundai Veloster N ETCR this weekend, and it resulted in our strongest round of the season from all four drivers, so we can be very pleased,” said Jean-Karl. “Our target was to win the weekend, and we couldn’t have expected better.”
Crossing the line just behind him was Tom, who used his Power Up boost to move into second place in the Super Final and build a comfortable gap to the cars behind. This result added to a third place finish in Round 1 and second place in Round 2.
“The team has done an awful lot of work with the car to improve it, and it has shown,” explained Tom. “We were the fastest in qualifying, and we managed to continue forward momentum throughout the weekend, which we have struggled to do in the past.”
Augusto tops Pool A
Our Brazilian driver took an early victory in his Round 1 Battle on Friday, although his decisive move to take the lead would result in a penalty of a deduction of eight points. Augusto went on to set the fastest lap of the weekend, claiming pole position for the Super Final, and ended the season finale with a second win.
“There was no better way to finish the year,” said a overjoyed Augusto. “Unfortunately it took us some time, but this weekend we have clearly shown that we have a strong package in the Veloster N ETCR.”
His teammate John fought hard in his Battles, and briefly lead his Round 1 race. Having been unable to do a 500kW lap during Friday’s practice sessions, John struggled to put together a lap in the Round 3 time trial. He battled to make progress in the Super Final, but ultimately finished in sixth place.
“After a difficult event at the Hungaroring, we’ve come back and put on a good performance and this is the most important thing,” admitted John. “I tried to fight hard in all of my Rounds and be smarter than my competitors, but unfortunately it didn’t pay off this time.”
“It is fantastic to end the season as the Manufacturer of the Weekend, and we’d like to pay thanks to each of our four drivers for their work and drive this year,” summarised Stefan. “The inaugural PURE ETCR season has been an electrifying challenge, one full of surprises and exciting close racing, and we could not have ended our year in a better place.”
King Driver Classification – Pau-Arnos
1. J-K. Vernay 72
2. A. Farfus 63
3. M. Azcona 62
4. L. Filippi 58
5. T. Chilton 52
6. R. Baptista 51
7. J. Gené 48
8. M. Ekström 47
9. O. Webb 42
10. D. Nagy 37
11. J. Filippi 31
12. P. Eng 16
2021 PURE ETCR Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 5
1. Zengo Motorsport X Cupra 646
2. Romeo Ferraris – M1RA 579
3. Hyundai Motorsport N 578
2021 PURE ETCR Drivers’ Standings
After round 5
1. M. Ekström 320
2. J-K. Vernay 316
3. M. Azcona 300
4. J. Gené 260
5. R. Baptista 248
6. A. Farfus 224
7. L. Filippi 218
8. D. Nagy 178
9. O. Webb 177
10. J. Filippi 177
11. P. Eng 159
12. T. Chilton 145
13. L. Ferrara 36
14. S. Coletti 22
