Honda Civic Type R TCR drivers scored a double-points finish in the first of three races held as part of the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup’s Race of Germany at the legendary Nürburgring.

From seventh and 11th spots on the starting grid, Boutsen Ginion Racing duo Tom Coronel and Benjamin Lessennes survived first-corner contact to come home ninth and 10th after a closely-fought race.

The results solidified their championship positions while keeping the Belgian outfit sixth in the Teams’ points table.

Esteban Guerrieri, who was the highest-placed driver of a Civic Type R TCR in qualifying, was unable to make use of his fourth place on the grid as the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver was spun to the back of the field by a rival driver exiting the second corner. He retired in the pits with rear-suspension damage.

His team-mates Yann Ehrlacher and James Thompson finished 19th and 22nd; Frenchman Ehrlacher suffering first-corner contact while in a top-10 position and then dropping back into the pack later in the lap.

Münnich Motorsport remain third in the Teams’ Championship while Yann’s misfortune dropped him from second to fifth in the Drivers’ points.

Wildcard entrant Kris Richard, who was making his WTCR debut with KCMG, qualified 21st and finished 17th after a solid drive.

Tom Coronel

Tom Coronel 9

“I’m pleased to score my best finish of the year and to be the first Honda home, but it was a very tough race. I think I was hit about 10 times on the first lap with Frederic Vervisch, in particular, being very aggressive. I had a small issue on turn-in, which got progressively worse during the race as the tyres became worn, and it was just so difficult to defend positions on the long straight at the end of the lap once another car gets in your slipstream. It’s a good platform for tomorrow where hopefully we can do even better.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing
Benjamin Lessennes

Benjamin Lessennes 63

“To score points in my first race at the most difficult circuit in the world is a good feeling. I made a good start, but I was pushed into the gravel at the first corner and as I rejoined, I had come contact and damaged my front splitter, which meant my car was oversteering a bit more than it should do in the right-handers. I could stay in the train of cars, in the corners and gained quite a bit under braking, but on the long straight it’s impossible to defend. After Hungary, my aim is to score points everywhere, so I’m happy with this result.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing
Yann Ehrlacher

Yann Ehrlacher 68

“There’s not much to say really. I was hit coming out of Turn 2, lost all my momentum and dropped to something like 26th or 27th place, and I recovered to 19th in three laps, which isn’t bad at a track like this where there’s only one or two overtaking places. I’m sure I would have been much further up the grid had I not had to slow on my final qualifying lap for yellow flags and lose a lot of time, but that’s racing. We have another qualifying session tomorrow and two races on Saturday, so I’m aiming for two strong results.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
James Thompson

James Thompson 15

“Having only done six laps around here in a rental car before today, I needed as much track time in dry as possible. Unfortunately, we never had that in practice because of the rain – although we were actually quite quick in the wet – and in dry qualifying I only managed two laps and had to back off on my last one because of a yellow flag. But I finished the race and the car’s in one piece, so there’s plenty of opportunities to move forwards tomorrow.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Esteban Guerrieri

Esteban Guerrieri 86

“It’s frustrating not to score points today. The build-up to qualifying was strong and I was able to do a good time to start on the second row. I made a decent start and then Gabriele Tarquini spun me around and damaged my suspension, so that was my race over after just a few seconds. It’s a shame because I’m sure I could have stayed with the leading pack through most of the lap and finished in the top five.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Kris Richard

Kris Richard 94

“We’ve come through a tough day without a scratch on the car, so that’s positive, but I was hoping for better than 17th place. Looking at where we were compared to the other Hondas, it’s clear the 20kg we have to carry as a wildcard entry has had an effect on the speed we could show, especially on acceleration out of the uphill corners. I also had a lower seatbelt strap come undone, which meant the rest rode up on me and left me pretty uncomfortable. Tomorrow, I think we have the potential to do better.”

KCMG
Olivia Boutsen

Olivia Boutsen

Team Manager

“We’ve scored double-points for the first time in the WTCR, so that’s great news for the team. The fact that we’ve had both drivers setting pretty even laptimes in the race shows what a great job the team have done in preparing the cars, and it’s also extremely encouraging to see Benjamin running so competitively when he’s never driven a racing car around here before. Tomorrow I think we can move forwards another step.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing
Dominik Greiner

Dominik Greiner

Team Manager

“After a pretty positive qualifying session with Esteban, this race was not an ideal start to our home event. Esteban was taken out by Gabriele Tarquini and Yann was also hit at the second corner, but we radioed both drivers and asked if they felt it was safe to continue. Yann said yes, so he did. James is a Nürburgring rookie and wasn’t helped by mixed weather conditions in practice that stopped him getting the experience he needed. We aim to bounce back strongly tomorrow.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Matteo Chiarcossi

Matteo Chiarcossi

Team Manager

“Today was a hard day. We planned to use free practice to help Kris acclimatise to the car, but the mixed weather conditions meant we were not able to work through our plan and tweak the set-up as intended. He did a good job in the race and finished four places higher than he qualified. We’ll work on things tomorrow before our qualifying session, which is in the evening.”

KCMG
Mads Fischer

Mads Fischer

TCR Project Leader, JAS Motorsport

“It’s been a disappointing day for all our customer teams, especially as the three cars that started in the top 10 all suffered contact at the first corner, and from there it was difficult to recover. We still saw Boutsen Ginion Racing score a double-points finish, so this is one positive that we must be satisfied with.”

JAS Motorsport
WTCR Race of Germany

Nürburgring, Germany

WTCR 2018, Round 3

Thursday 10 May 2018, 19:29 Europe/London
# Driver Num Nationality Nat. Points Pts. Team Constructor Constr. Time/Gap
1 Yvan Muller 48 FRA 25 YMR Hyundai 3 laps
2 Thed Björk 11 SWE 20 YMR Hyundai +0.331
3 Rob Huff 12 GBR 16 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +0.853
4 Norbert Michelisz 5 HUN 13 BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +1.288
5 Jean-Karl Vernay 69 FRA 11 Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +8.112
6 Rene Rast 33 GER 10 Audi Sport Team WRT Audi +8.581
7 Gordon Shedden 52 GBR 9 Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +13.468
8 Pepe Oriola 74 SPA 8 Team OSCARO by Campos Racing Cupra +18.134
9 Tom Coronel 9 NDL 7 Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda +18.573
10 Benjamin Lessennes 63 BEL 6 Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda +18.672
11 Aurélien Panis 21 FRA 5 Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing Audi +19.343
12 Denis Dupont 20 BEL 4 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +25.367
13 Mehdi Bennani 25 MAR 3 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +25.816
14 Mato Homola 70 SLK 2 DG Sport Competition Peugeot +26.205
15 Fabrizio Giovanardi 88 ITA 1 Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +31.087
16 John Filippi 27 FRA 0 Team OSCARO by Campos Racing Cupra +31.916
17 Kris Richard 94 SWI 0 KCMG Honda +32.728
18 Aurelien Comte 7 AND 0 DG Sport Competition Peugeot +33.750
19 Yann Ehrlacher 68 FRA 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +34.286
20 Nathanael Berthon 23 FRA 0 Comtoyou Racing Audi +35.420
21 Norbert Nagy 8 HUN 0 Zengo Motorsport Cupra +51.677
22 James Thompson 15 GBR 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +52.428
NC Gianni Morbidelli 10 ITA 0 Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +DNF
NC Frederic Vervisch 22 BEL 0 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +DNF
NC Esteban Guerrieri 86 ARG 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +DNF
NC Gabriele Tarquini 1 ITA 0 BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +DNF
Thursday 10 May 2018, 16:02 Europe/London
# Driver Num Nationality Nat. Team Constructor Constr. Time/Gap
1 Thed Björk 11 SWE YMR Hyundai 8:58.700
2 Yvan Muller 48 FRA YMR Hyundai +8:58.779
3 Norbert Michelisz 5 HUN BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +8:59.065
4 Esteban Guerrieri 86 ARG ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +8:59.564
5 Rob Huff 12 GBR Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +8:59.909
6 Rene Rast 33 GER Audi Sport Team WRT Audi +9:00.471
7 Gabriele Tarquini 1 ITA BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +9:00.728
8 Gordon Shedden 52 GBR Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +9:01.235
9 Tom Coronel 9 NDL Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda +9:02.153
10 Benjamin Lessennes 63 BEL Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda +9:02.228
11 Yann Ehrlacher 68 FRA ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +9:02.689
12 Jean-Karl Vernay 69 FRA Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +9:03.038
13 Pepe Oriola 74 SPA Team OSCARO by Campos Racing Cupra +9:04.103
14 Mato Homola 70 SLK DG Sport Competition Peugeot +9:04.457
15 Frederic Vervisch 22 BEL Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +9:04.909
16 Denis Dupont 20 BEL Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +9:05.221
17 Aurélien Panis 21 FRA Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing Audi +9:05.732
18 Aurelien Comte 7 AND DG Sport Competition Peugeot +9:05.986
19 Mehdi Bennani 25 MAR Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +9:06.192
20 Nathanael Berthon 23 FRA Comtoyou Racing Audi +9:06.319
21 Kris Richard 94 SWI KCMG Honda +9:08.282
22 Fabrizio Giovanardi 88 ITA Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +9:08.639
23 Gianni Morbidelli 10 ITA Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +9:09.933
24 John Filippi 27 FRA Team OSCARO by Campos Racing Cupra +9:10.726
25 Norbert Nagy 8 HUN Zengo Motorsport Cupra +9:10.821
26 James Thompson 15 GBR ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +9:51.865
27 Zsolt Szabo 66 HUN Zengo Motorsport Cupra +