The WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup continues at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany this weekend with the four Honda Civic Type R TCR drivers eager to continue a successful start to the season.
With five wins from 12 races, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport heads the Teams’ Championship while their Argentinian duo Esteban Guerrieri and Nestor Girolami are first and third in the Drivers’ points.
For Esteban, who has an 11-point advantage at the head of the standings, this weekend represents a return to the scene of his first WTCR win last year.
Team-mate Nestor has only competed on the 25.9km circuit – known as ‘Green Hell’ – once, but currently holds the distinction of having won more races than anybody else this season – three – for the German team that celebrates its home event this weekend.
After a bright start to the season in Marrakech, KCMG have had a tough time over the past few events, but drivers Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi believe the Nürburgring is the ideal place to stage a turnaround in fortunes.
Tiago, who recorded his season’s-best finish of fourth in Morocco, will pull double-duty this weekend as he combines his WTCR activities with those in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, in which he will race a similar Civic Type R TCR.
The Portuguese driver finished third at the Nürburgring in 2015 as part of a thrilling blanket finish in which the top four cars were separated by just 0.7s at the finish line and has contested two rounds of the Nordschleife-based VLN already this year.
Attila Tassi, meanwhile, is a Nürburgring novice, whose experience of the Nordschleife is limited to a handful of laps in a road car and some simulator work.
The Hungarian, who has just turned 20, has kept busy since Zandvoort by racing the KCMG Civic Type R TCR in the 24 Hours of Fuji in Japan, at which he proved one of the consistently fastest drivers in the ST-TCR category.
With the event programme working in synchrony with the 24-hour race, practice and qualifying take place on Thursday with one race on Friday and two more on Saturday.
Esteban Guerrieri #86 – ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport : « We’ve had a fantastic start to the season, the team is working well together and I’m feeling confident about returning to the circuit where I took my first WTCR win last year. However, I’m leading the championship and I know that puts a target on my back, plus the compensation weight situation at Zandvoort meant we didn’t have the fastest car, and with the Nürburgring placing such unique demands on the cars and drivers, we’ll have to be at our very best to continue our winning run at ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport’s home event. »
Nestor Girolami #29 – ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport : « I have some unfinished business at the Nürburgring. When I last raced there in 2017, I had a puncture and lost a podium finish, so I know I can be fast there and it’s an ambition to collect at least one trophy. We didn’t maximise our qualifying potential at Zandvoort and that compromised all of the races, so that’s one area we have to absolutely get spot-on. The Honda is a strong car for the medium-speed corners and handles the kerbs well, so I think we can put on a good showing and score a lot of points. »
Tiago Monteiro #18 – KCMG : « This is going to be one of my busiest weekends of the year because I’m driving the Civic Type R TCR in the three WTCR races as well as the 24 Hours, and I’ve been working so hard to make sure I can stand up to that test. By competing in two VLN races in TCR Hondas already this year, I probably have more recent experience of the Nordschleife than most of my rivals, and that gives me the confidence that we can make a significant improvement on where we’ve been over the past few events. It will be tough, but that’s no different to normal. Everybody at KCMG and Fugel Sport is looking forward to the challenge. »
Attila Tassi #9 – KCMG : « I’m excited about racing on the Nordschleife for the first time. I’ve done some laps in a road car and also a lot of practice on a simulator, but when we get the green light for FP1 on Thursday, it will be a completely new experience for me. I took a small step forwards at Zandvoort and the experience of going to Japan to race in the Fuji 24 Hours with KCMG was very positive as we had the fastest car, even if the result wasn’t what we wanted. Despite my lack of experience on this circuit, I think we can do a good job this weekend. Let’s see where that puts us on the results sheets. »
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