WTCR : Ringmeister Guerrieri claims another Nordschleife win

Esteban Guerrieri kickstarted his 2020 WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup campaign with a stunning victory at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

The 2019 WTCR runner-up, who started the race second, claimed the lead with a daring move on the opening lap before streaming clear of the chasing pack in tricky conditions.

After two sighting laps of the Grand Prix circuit behind the Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition Safety Car, Esteban looked raring to go from the moment the race got under way – showing his nose to the polesitting car into the first corner.

Though he decided against any move there, the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver snatched top spot on the Nordschleife by diving to the outside of the leader on the brakes, then keeping his foot in – his Honda Civic Type R TCR emerging with the lead after running side-by-side with his rival through a couple of corners.

From there Esteban romped clear; having extended a lead of close to seven seconds by the end of the second lap, he backed off on the final tour but still won by a commanding 3.385 seconds.

It marks Esteban’s second win at the legendary ‘Green Hell’ in three years, while he also finished on the podium twice last year, and was the perfect tonic after a frustrating season opener at Zolder two weeks earlier.

His Argentinian compatriot and team-mate Nestor Girolami had a quiet but productive run to sixth, a result that continued his strong start to the 2020 campaign.

Keeping his nose clean marked mission accomplished for ‘Bebu’, who will start Saturday’s main race from pole position after his own stunning run on the Nordschleife on Friday evening.

ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport’s Tiago Monteiro got off the mark for 2020 with a battling run to eighth in his Civic Type R TCR.

The Portuguese driver’s performance was all the more impressive consider his windscreen wiper stopped working at the end of the first lap.

Attila Tassi had been running sixth, but was taken out of contention when he was hit by a rival on the final lap – an incident for which his assailant escaped punishment.

The 21-year-old still has a chance to bag strong points on Saturday, as he starts the main race from third place.

Esteban Guerrieri #86 – ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport : « What a feeling it is to now be a two-time winner on the Nordschleife. Despite it being the Green Hell, this track has been very kind to me. There are so many different situations that can hurt you, so it’s about striking a balance between being confident and not overdoing it. At the start I just followed the leader, and then I had an idea from last year’s pole position in the wet of where I could make up time. I saw the other car braking early on the inside, so I tried to go around the outside. It was an intense, side-by-side battle, but a fair one and I got the job done. After that, I needed to make a gap before the Döttinger Höhe because the cars behind were good in a straight line, so it was quite an aggressive first lap. But once I’d extended the gap, and with experience of the opening lap, I settled down. It was mega – it was really brilliant to win here for a second time. »

Nestor Girolami #29 – ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport : « For me, this sixth-place finish marks some really good points. We didn’t want to take any risks, because we know that our race is tomorrow. We didn’t have the pace to fight for much more; we were struggling a little bit with these conditions, so now the job is to look into the data to do a little bit of analysis – both of my driving, and in terms of the performance of the set-up. I’m very happy for Esteban and his crew, because they did a very good job and took the possibility presented to them – he did a fantastic move to take the lead. Now it’s our turn to keep the focus for tomorrow, when we can hopefully replicate that result. »

Tiago Monteiro #18 – ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport : « First of all, it’s good to put my first points on the board for this season. I had a good start, a decent first lap, and some good fights – I enjoyed it out there. Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the balance and performance of the car, and I’ve had a look at my lap times and it was decent in the wet. So everything felt good. It’s just little things here and there, and everything seems to happen at the wrong time for me at the moment – like the qualifying disruptions yesterday. We need to sort out a few issues we still have on the car, but in general the performance is good. I’m looking forward to another race tomorrow – most likely another wet one. »

Attila Tassi #9 – ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport : « I had a really good pace in the beginning, but made a small mistake and one car got through. I had a chance to go around the outside of him, and I know he saw me in the mirror because I saw his face, but I think he just didn’t want this overtake to happen so got on the power, had understeer, and pushed me off completely – so I lost time there. By the final lap I was backing up a bit, being careful not make any mistakes, but then in one of the corners I took the wide line and Santiago Urrutia just threw his car next to me; there was one-and-a-half or two cars’ width on the inside of me, I turned in without making a mistake, and suddenly I felt a big impact with the left side before I hit the wall on the right side, so it felt like I was a ping-poing ball. The impact was quite big; but I am sure the ALL-INKL.DE guys will make a great job and tomorrow we will go for the podium. »

Dominik Greiner – Team Manager – Münnich Motorsport : « It was a brilliant job by Esteban – a fantastic manoeuvre for the opening lap that I don’t think anybody expected. We had no idea what the situation was going to be like on the Nordschleife – hard rain or no rain – so it was a bold move, but a calculated one as well. So well done to Esteban, he deserved it, as did his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport guys. We are sorry for Attila because the incident was no fault of his own, so it’s a shame for him. Nestor and Tiago scored some valuable points; now it’s time to focus again after this celebration and do the same job tomorrow with Nestor. »

Mads Fischer – TCR Project Leader, JAS Motorsport : « Esteban did an amazing race; it was a very good move and one he had to go for; I think had he not done it there it would have been difficult to risk it further around the lap. Nestor got some good points again, and it’s great that Tiago got some points on the board, even if he was a bit unlucky with the wiper problem. Despite Attila’s retirement – it was a shame for him that he got knocked off – overall it was a very good day for the Honda Civic Type R TCR. Let’s hope we can reproduce this win one more time tomorrow. »

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