CUPRA Kiro needed the double points score it ultimately achieved last Saturday in Jeddah. But what it very much didn’t need was the two cars rubbing wheels with each other on the penultimate lap.
The spike in heart rates in their garage was completely unnecessary at a stage of the race where yes Marti had an energy advantage but essentially the race was locked in for a team that had, on some levels reasons beyond its control, not scored the points it should have done in the preceding four races.
Immediately after the skirmish Dan Ticktum had already parlayed his thoughts to teammate Pepe Marti in a forthright fashion. Ultimately it appeared to be a sound clear the air conversation.
“I just don’t think you can predict that sort of level of immaturity, really,” said Ticktum.
“I think that was all it was. It was a sort of rookie, immature move, which is fine. Look, at least he’s hungry and he goes for stuff, he gets himself in a lot of scrapes but, he’s trying, which you’d rather that than the other way round.
When FEN asked Ticktum if he thought Marti was given a hold station directive he replied that “I don’t think he was, to be fair to him.”
He wasn’t and that was a big part of the problem. It was a problem that team principal Russell O’Hagan was determined wouldn’t happen again.
“Pepe had been pushing very hard the second half of the race, we were still digesting that, we were a little bit, I would say slightly slack in not being super firm of exactly what was going to happen,” O’Hagan told FEN.
“But Pepe was overambitious in the move he made at the time. I’m sure on reflection he understands this is something that can never happen again, but it is also the sign of two good racing drivers pushing. But the buck has to stop with me on that, and we just can’t get into the point where those things have the chance of happening.”
From Marti’s side he was fairly magnanimous but also had some questions himself.
“I guess the dive from my side was not great, but it was a miscommunication and we talked it through very briefly in the debrief,” Marti told FEN.
“He (Ticktum) had no knowledge that I had more energy, and I had no knowledge that he didn’t know. I just went for a move which I thought was okay and obviously he defended, which was fair from him. No hard feelings from my side.”
At Jeddah the team was supplemented by former Envision performance engineer Donal Curran. He will blend off into a more factory and mission control role for the rest of the season now, but it shows CUPRA Kiro’s commitment to getting stronger for the Gen4 period where it is expected to stay as a Porsche customer.
