Retiring with an oil leak in Spain, after qualifying 24th, and again a fortnight later in Belgium with a blown engine, from which he started 22nd, were not the lift in performance Opel wished for. Monaco was worse still, where he was the only driver that failed to qualify. Brief respite was found in Sweden and the Netherlands with his first top-10 finishes, 9th on both occasions (after qualifying 20th and 23rd respectively).