Mikel Azcona was full of praise for the Zengo Motorsport X CUPRA team after a history-making victory in the PURE ETCR Race IT that made him the first winner of an all-electric, multi-brand touring car race.
The Spaniard was one of the star performers at Autodromo Vallelunga as he triumphed in Rounds 1 and 2 on Saturday and in DHL Superfinal A to end the weekend on 77 points – the maximum total possible – to net both King of the Weekend status and the TAG Heuer Most Valuable Driver award.
“We made history,” he said. “It makes me super-happy.”
But victory was far from straightforward for the 24-year-old. A puncture in Sunday morning’s Time Trial – the one-lap shoot-out with the maximum 500kW available – led to a spin and his abandonment of the session.
Starting DHL SuperFinal A from the back of the six-car field, he had a huge mountain to climb, but briefed by his team from the PURE ETCR Hot Zone on clever use of the Power-Up, which gave drivers 200kW of additional power for 40 seconds of the race, enabled him to rise to the occasion.
“It was really hard starting the SuperFinal from the rear, especially with five fast cars in front. But I received really good information from my team for how to use the Power-Up. The team did a really great job. I’m just so happy. This is a great way to start the season”, Azcona added.
PURE ETCR, the world’s first all-electric touring car series, moves on to MotorLand Aragón for its second event with CUPRA leading the Manufacturers’ standings thanks to the efforts of Azcona and team-mate Mattias Ekström, who was third overall.
