Nestor Girolami set a new WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup lap record of the fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit to claim pole position for Saturday’s main race.
In fading light, the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver – who is currently second in the drivers’ Championship – recorded a best time of 8m51.802s in qualifying at the ‘Green Hell’, giving his Honda Civic Type R TCR pole position by 1.163 seconds.
In securing his second WTCR pole position, the Argentinian also added an important 10 points to his championship tally – reducing his deficit to the standings leader by two points.
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport driver Attila Tassi gave an indication of the pace to come from the Civic Type R TCR by going fastest of all in both Thursday afternoon practice sessions.
He maintained that strong turn of pace in qualifying, ending up an excellent third – a result that also netted the 21-year-old six bonus points.
Esteban Guerrieri was seventh on his final qualifying run in the second ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport car.
This means the Argentinian will start Friday’s opening race, which gets underway at 4.40pm local time, from third on the grid – offering a first chance of some silverware for the quartet of Honda Racing drivers.
Tiago Monteiro, who like Esteban is also contesting the concurrent 24-hour race, was 12th in his ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Civic Type R TCR.
The Portuguese set that time on his first run in qualifying; his second was interrupted by a lengthy yellow flag in the opening sector, before darkness set in while he was on his final run.
Nestor Girolami #29 – ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport : « Now I can breathe! I really enjoyed driving in the dark on the Nordschleife, it was a really amazing feeling. I felt so confident with the car during my first attempt, that was the reason we decided to go for a second lap. Having this feeling, I just wanted to go again and try to improve my lap. I was taking some risks, but I was always in control, and the car was just performing amazingly. It was definitely the best feeling in the car I’ve had this year, I really cannot express the confidence I had in qualifying and that I will have for the races. I want to congratulate all the team for a fantastic job, also for putting Attila in third. We need to keep pushing, but I’m very confident in the pace. »
Esteban Guerrieri #86 – ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport : « I think we did a good step with the balance from free practice to qualifying. I wanted to put a lap in on the first run to get a feel, as the car felt a bit different, so I wanted to just catch up with that. I knew where I could improve, but it was not easy to put it all together. Pole position wasn’t to be, as Nestor put in a mega lap – it was a really good job from him and Attila. But in the end we met our target of being in the top 10, and considering all the difficulties of qualifying and that it was getting very dark, this can be considered a good result – especially because it was quite an intense day. We are there to fight from the front tomorrow and Saturday. »
Attila Tassi #9 – ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport : « I have mixed feelings; obviously it’s good to finish third in qualifying, but after FP1 and FP2 I was aiming to go for pole and I really thought I had the pace to make it. So from that point of view, to end up a little bit behind one of my team-mates is quite annoying for me now, because I felt like my lap was quite good. There were a couple of small mistakes here and there; maybe that cost me some time. But we will have to check the data and analyse it overnight. Overall I am happy, but not 100% happy because it seems like I could have done better. »
Tiago Monteiro #18 – ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport : « I went to get a first lap in just to be safe, because it was getting darker and you never know at the Nürburgring what can happen with yellow flags on track. I knew there was a lot more to come, but for a second weekend in a row things didn’t work out. On my second attempt there was a yellow flag for a long time; usually the marshals here are quite fast, but it took them a long time and we had to abort. My final attempt was going better, and I felt I was improving in the first sectors, but I just couldn’t see a thing. I’m a little bit frustrated, as the light level was a bit low by the time we were finishing qualifying, but it’s the same for everybody. »
Dominik Greiner – Team Manager, Münnich Motorsport : « This is a result we can be very happy with, and the performance level we were hoping for. Nestor’s pole is excellent, as is Attila’s time, but also Esteban qualifying seventh gives some good opportunities from the reversed grid and Tiago still has the opportunity to score good points. We made some steps from free practice with the cars, and the drivers also have some familiarity with the track from when we tested here not long ago, so that will definitely have helped. We can be really happy with the job our mechanics and engineers did to give Nestor and Attila such confidence in the car, but we want the same as well for Esteban and Tiago – we have four cars, so we want all of them to be doing well. We are happy, but we are always looking to improve as well. »
Mads Fischer – TCR Project Leader, JAS Motorsport – JAS Motorsport : « This weekend is such a different one, and it’s always a very hard event with regards to the schedule; it’s a tour de force for the mechanics. I’m very happy for Nestor, and the way he was working, which was rewarded with this pole position. Attila also did a great job and prepared himself for qualifying very well with his practice times – the data from Attila’s car probably helped boost the others too, so this shows how well everyone is operating together. It’s a great place to start the main contest – obviously race two will be more difficult for them but that’s how it is. It didn’t quite work out for Esteban and Tiago was just outside the top 10, so there’s a little bit of catching up to do, but we can all be very pleased with the teamwork we have seen. »
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