Honda Civic Type R TCR customer teams continue their fight for the WTCR – FIA Word Touring Car Cup this weekend as the series resumes at Ningbo International Speedpark.
Esteban Guerrieri arrives in China with a 24-point advantage in the Drivers’ Championship while the combined efforts of himself and Nestor Girolami have pushed ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport into a 73-point lead in the Teams’ standings.
Esteban has finished on the podium on seven occasions in his Civic Type R TCR – more than anybody else – and won twice; showing a level of consistency that has been unmatched.
Significantly, he triumphed in the wet on World Touring Car racing’s first visit to Ningbo in 2017 and twice finished on the podium for Münnich last year.
Unfortunately, his task has been made tougher due to a three-place grid penalty for Race One carried over from Vila Real, where he suffered contact with another driver.
Team-mate and fellow Argentinian Nestor remains the only driver this season to record back-to-back wins, thanks to his double victory in Hungary.
He sits fourth in the points and, like Esteban, was a race winner at Ningbo in the WTCC on his only previous visit in 2017.
Tiago Monteiro was the big winner last time out on the streets of Vila Real as he triumphed in front of his home crowd to make KCMG the first Asian team to win a WTCR race.
The Portuguese ace, who became the fourth driver to win a WTCR race in a Civic Type R TCR, has never raced at Ningbo, so heads into Friday’s opening practice session eager to get to grips with the challenging four-kilometre circuit.
Team-mate Attila Tassi became the youngest driver to score a WTCR pole position in Vila Real and, like Tiago, heads to Ningbo with no previous race experience from the circuit.
Having achieved a career-best fourth-place finish in Germany, the 20-year-old Hungarian is aiming to continue his rapidly-improving form in China.
Ningbo hosts three races; the opener on Saturday plus two more on Sunday. The track action begins on Friday with the first of two free-practice sessions.