Juncadella: Genesis “Paid Big Price” For My ‘Over-Confidence’

Dani Juncadella admitted he was a “bit over-confident into Turn 5” as he skated off on the opening lap of the Barcelona FIA World Endurance Championship round, believing it potentially cost Genesis Magma Racing a top-six result.

The pair of Genesis GMR-001s had qualified first and third in Barcelona on a sensational Saturday and Juncadella guided the No. 19 machine past both the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid and team-mate Andre Lotterer to grab the lead at the first corner of the race.

But Juncadella’s lead proved very brief as he skated off at Turn 5 in the wet conditions further around the lap, dropping him to the tail of the Hypercar pack.

The Spaniard confessed he was “excited to get going” and should have been more cautious into that corner.

“We were focusing on a wet setup today expecting quite a lot of rain so the car was feeling great on the laps to the grid so I was confident for the start and I showed that,” Juncadella told Sportscar365.

“Andre was a bit more cautious, I wasn’t necessarily wanting to do that (pass him), that was not really my plan but I really wanted to get past the Toyota so I was still looking at him and then got surprised by Andre braking a bit early for Turn 1 and went for a move that was not too risky and made it happen.

“Then I was a bit over-confident into Turn 5, which I know is one of the most slippery corners in the wet and misjudged that one and paid a big price for it because I went from first to last.

“That was mentally very disappointing and I carried that into all my stint and struggled to get my head in place for the rest of the stint.”

Juncadella did rise from 16th back into the top-ten but then struggled more when the track started to dry in the second hour, which meant the No. 19 machine “couldn’t really capitalize” on its strong qualifying.

“Then we had a couple of issues that were little setbacks and we lost a bit of time on track with that and could’ve scored points,” he added.

When asked what was possible without the opening-lap woes, Juncadella replied: “I think we could optimistically think of a top-five, top-six. Sixth would’ve been a good result without the mistakes I did in the first stint.

“Who knows what could’ve been if I’d been in the lead after that first lap.

“The Toyotas were incredibly strong today and probably out of reach. Ferrari and the Caddys also quite strong but I think we could’ve given them a fight.

“We had a chance for a strong result and unfortunately part of it I blew it on the first lap.”

The No. 19 GMR-001 ultimately finished 11th so still remains without points this season, while the race was also tricky for the sister No. 17 machine.

Lotterer “knew the race is always a bigger challenge” for Genesis than qualifying, but had run third in the early stages before encountering software issues that eventually contributed to the car finishing 16th, three laps down.

“We had problems with the regen, the braking, the car was just not functioning so I was constantly having to change settings,” he explained.

“We also had another issue where the car would shut down and we had to restart it.

“So far reliability has been quite good but this weekend the reliability on the software side needs to be understood.

“It’s part of being a new team, it’s our rookie season and I think we take this as an experience and go back home and correct these issues and come back stronger for Monza.

“But it was a difficult day. We’re disappointed — it would be weird not to be — we need to improve.”

Jamie Klein contributed to this report