Minorca’s driver sponsored by Renault Trucks, Pinturas R-M and Triatges Menorca finished fourth during Sunday’s race held at Autódromo do Algarve. But Salom couldn’t be pleased with the meagre reward as he was the fastest man on track over the weekend but marshals decisions had a discernable impact on the result
Faust Salom experienced a positive feedback from the second round of the TCR Ibérico, TCR Spain and TCR Portugal hosted at Autódromo do Algarve but it can’t hide the fact that marshals decisions prevented him from scoring some bigger results. Despite Salom was making his first outing at the Portuguese circuit, the Mahon-born driver made an impression from the very beginning matching local touring car specialists at the wheel of his Baporo Motorsport-entered SEAT León Cup Racer TCR.
Salom finished 2nd-fastest in the free practice session with a lap time of 1:55.994 but, on Sunday morning, his two best lap times were deleted for exceeding the track limits according marshals. As a result, Salom lined fourth on the grid and despite he dropped several places at the start, Faust still moved up to fourth behind Manuel Giao. In spite of Giao’s unsporting behaviour, with several moves outlawing braking-zone defending, Portugal’s driver escaped penalty. In addition, extreme tire degradation of mandatory Hankook tires prevented Salom from charging for podium contention until the end. Salom brought a fourth place home.
Faust Salom: “.It was a positive weekend but it also brought me some mixed feelings. My pace was extremely competitive throughout the weekend but a number of reasons ruined our win chances. Despite it was my first race there, I took the most out from my simulator training to fight for P1 from the very beggining. Everything was positive for Sunday but I still don’t know why marshals cancelled my two fastest lap times as I was told that I exceded track limits. I would have secured the pole position or even a third place was guaranteed at worst. Instead I started from fourth. It’s crazy because there is no video proof at all. My start was far from good but I still gained two places but moving into fourth place later again. I was putting pressure on Giao, but his driving behaviour wasn’t sporting but he still didn’t handle any penalty. In the dying minutes, I struggled with tire wear, massive tire wear in fact. It didn’t make sense. On the whole, I’m happy because we proved our speed but a fourth place wasn’t what we expected. I would like to thank my sponsors, family and fans for their unconditional support. Now we need to keep working for Vila Real.”