Morgan Masterful In Mugello As He Claims His Third Successive Podium
Wed, 20 July 2016
Alex Morgan gave a supreme performance at his first taste of the challenging Mugello circuit. In the latest action-packed round of the SEAT León Eurocup championship, the Welsh-born driver racing for Wolf-Power racing, managed to claim his third podium in three race weekends.
Italian crowds were treated to a thrilling display of wheel-to-wheel, edge of seat racing, as Alex extended his string of point scoring positions. Unnerved by his first outing in Mugello, Alex relished the challenge where his formidable pace saw him qualify on the second row of the grid for race one. Mastering his tyres beautifully from the start, the Reading-based driver maintained his position with eyes focused on hunting down a podium towards the end of the race. Hindered by the addition of a safety car, which minimised his tyre advantage, Alex used his hunger and determination to chase down the leaders in an exhilarating final two laps. With just three corners to go until the end of the race, Alex fought his way through to clinch a valuable third step on the podium, in a stunning exhibition of his pure aptitude for racing.
Starting from P7 on the reverse grid, and confident in the raw pace of his Wolf-Power Racing car, Alex’s aim was to clinch a valuable haul of championship points. A calamitous incident in the opening stages saw an opponent try to overtake Alex under yellow flags. With serious damage to his front left, Alex tenaciously controlled his SEAT León racer to the chequered flag, battling against both his tyre degradation and opposition to make his way to a hard-fought sixth place.
Encouraged by his skilful performance, Morgan commented on the difficulty he faced:
I had a serious amount of damage to my front left tracking, so I knew at that point it was going to be touch and go, to whether my front left tyre would last the race distance. My tyre started to delaminate 3 laps from the end, so I’m extremely happy to have still scored good points in such a compromising situation.
In a challenging weekend for the Wolf-Power driver, Alex battled to claim 25 championship points, comfortably extending his 4th place in the championship standings. Boosted by his pace, Alex looks ahead to hunt his first win of the season:
Overall it was a very good weekend, but with a bit of luck, we could have been looking at two podium finishes, which is brilliant considering it was my first time at this circuit. We move into the second half of the season full of confidence and I have some favourite circuits coming up. We will be pushing for that elusive first win of this season - for sure!
The next round of the SEAT León Eurocup roars into action, deep in the heart of the Austrian hills at the Red Bull Ring on 10th-11th September. With such steep slopes and challenging turns, it’s sure to be another thrilling display, where Alex is eager to rev up his championship attack.