Young Driver: Apothéloz makes history 🎥

FIRST TCR PODIUM As the first young talent from the Young Driver Challenge, Julien Apothéloz clinched a podium finish at the Nürburgring. This year's first finalist Karen Gaillard put in a respectable performance. After Julien Apothéloz had finished eleventh on the grid in top qualifying, his exploit in the first of the two ADAC TCR Germany races at the Nürburgring was not necessarily [...]

Editorial - August 20, 2019

It's not every day that you stand on the podium with a runner-up. Winner Thierry Neuville and third-placed Julien Apothéloz. (Photo: Group C Photography).

After Julien Apothéloz had finished eleventh on the grid in top qualifying, his exploit in the first of the two ADAC TCR Germany races at the Nürburging was not necessarily to be expected. But with a bombshell start, the 18-year-old from Zurich catapulted his Topcar Sport Cupra TCR straight into fourth position.

Successful promotion of young talent
Because the car in front had sustained damage in the scuffle, last year's overall winner of the "AutoScout24 and CUPRA Young Driver Challenge" soon moved up to third place. The junior defended this position against championship leader Antti Buri to the best of his ability. As the two know each other well from a joint endurance race, the duel remained fair and earned Julien Apothéloz his first podium finish in the ADAC TCR Germany. Until then, no young driver had ever achieved this.

With a lot of commitment and driving skills at the wheel of the Cupra TCR, Julien Apothéloz drove to his first podium.

In addition to a runner-up on the podium
The prominent winner was the Belgian Thierry Neuville on a Hyundai, who has already been runner-up in the rally world championship four times and is also fighting for the title in 2019. Because the latter drove out of competition, the Swiss even receives the points for second place.

Julien Apothéloz: "It was a great feeling to finally stand on the podium, and then next to a world-class racer. Everything just fell into place. I knew I had the speed, but in this championship nothing is given to you. I'm also happy for my team and for everyone who believed in me."

The highlights of Race 1 show how Apothéloz held his own behind the two Hyundai i30 N TCR cars of Neuville and Hesse and successfully fought off Antti Buri in the final phase:

Second place for Pascal Eberle
According to the regulations, the ten fastest from Q2 are allowed to line up in reverse order for the second race. In eleventh place, Julien Apothéloz missed the pole position by a tiny 55 thousandths. At least a compatriot, Pascal Eberle, took the front grid spot in his private Cupra TCR. Despite a fluffed start, the man from St. Gallen, who like Neuville is registered as a guest driver, was then able to enjoy second place.

Fifth after abort in the rain
Once again, Apothéloz found his way to the leading group right after the start. When the rain started, the rookie kept a clear head and, unlike some of his rivals, stayed on the wet track until it was no longer reasonable to drive on tires without treads because of aquaplaning. Just as he too was heading for the pits to change tires after slipping over the gravel bed, the race was called off.

The highlights show what led to the abort in the chaotic race 2 and how Pascal Eberle drove to second place:

Because the classification was drawn up according to the standings in the previous round, the result was fifth place. At the same time, Julien again won the rookie classification, in which he has now made up a lot of points. Winning this remains the season's goal for the last two events.

Ninth place for Karen Gaillard
After a 17th-place finish in the first race, Karen Gaillard also had reason to be happy on Sunday. Like Apothéloz, the first of this year's three Young Driver Challenge finalists stayed on the track for a long time in difficult conditions before changing tires. Before the stop, Karen was in ninth place, making her the second Young Driver after Apothéloz (also ninth in Hockenheim 2018) to achieve a top-10 finish at the first attempt - although luck was also involved alongside her driving skills.

We describe how the 18-year-old from Freiburg and her parents experienced her racing debut in Wednesday's online report.