Josh Caygill Press Release
Norisring street circuit in Germany hosts rounds three and four of the exciting new Audi Sport TT Cup next weekend, 27th/28th June, where Netherton’s Josh Caygill is targeting his first top 10 finish of the campaign – having been very close to achieving that goal during the championship opener.
Seven long weeks since the curtain-raiser to the inaugural TT Cup campaign at Hockenheim in Germany, where the Yorkshireman secured a best finish of 11th place in the first outing, Josh is relishing the prospect of being back at the wheel of his impressively rapid 310bhp Audi.
Selected by Audi Sport in January as one of 18 permanent entrants in the DTM support category, and the only British representative in the championship, the 25-year-old is determined to make big strides as the season progresses – beginning with next weekend’s eagerly awaited double-header.
With experience of the Norisring from his maiden season at European level in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup last year, where he was a top 10 finisher at the 1.4-mile track, Josh is looking forward to putting all he learned then into practice. Additionally, his manager – professional racing driver Tim Sugden – will also be travelling to Germany to provide key advice as Josh strives to climb the order.
“It’s nice going back to circuits I’ve raced at before and I absolutely love the Norisring”, commented Josh, “I’m really looking forward to it, it’s been a while since the first round so it’ll be good being back in the car. I had my best qualifying and race there last year in the Sciroccos so hopefully that will bode well and we can start making some steps forward, especially with Tim’s support.”
Providing a very unique challenge, the high-speed Nuremberg venue is the sole ‘street circuit’ on the TT Cup calendar and is renowned for incredibly close action – something especially prevalent in the Audi series with the 2.0-litre cars all centrally prepared by quattro GmbH. Notably, it is also the ‘home’ venue for the manufacturer with Audi Sport based just 90 kilometres away in Ingolstadt.
“It’s my favourite track by far, there’s just something about the place with the history of it and it being a street circuit – it’s as near to racing at Monaco as we get really!”, added Josh, “On paper it’s not the most exciting layout, it’s a short and pretty intense lap, but to race in a town is pretty mega.
“The first hairpin can be a nightmare, and chances are it could be next weekend. The biggest thing will be to stay out of trouble on the first lap and take it from there, but the Norisring is one of the hardest circuits to pass on. I think it could be as little as 0.4 seconds separating the first 10 drivers in qualifying, we should definitely be in for two interesting races.”
Following free practice at the Norisring on Friday, 26th June, Audi Sport TT Cup qualifying will get underway early on Saturday, 27th June, at 07.35 (local time) with round three scheduled to begin at 11.25 (local time). On Sunday, 28th June, round four will start the day’s action at 08.00 (local time).
Photo credit: Audi Media
