Race Report

Guerrieri and Ma in the points in China

7 Oct 2018

WTCR Race of China – Wuhan

Wuhan Street Circuit, China

WTCR 2018, Round 8

Esteban Guerrieri and Ma Qinghua led the Honda Civic Type R TCR points scorers on Sunday in two bruising races in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup on the streets of Wuhan.

Driving for ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, Esteban qualified fifth and rocketed up to second within the first few corners of Race Three; positions he was then told to give back by race control.

He then resisted intense pressure to hang on for fourth, despite suffering a damaged exhaust from a rear-end tap earlier in the race.

Both Esteban and team-mates Yann Ehrlacher were forced off the track at the start of Race Two, causing all three to lose positions. Esteban finished 13th while Yann was 15th – a result he bettered by three places later in the day.

Timo had even worse luck as he was involved in contact through no fault of his own on the first laps of both races and retired without having completed a lap of either.

There was better news from Boutsen Ginion Racing, whose Chinese driver Ma played a starring role in front of his home crowd after reaching the Q2 section of qualifying – and only missing the Q3 pole position shoot-out by 0.1 seconds.

Ninth place in qualifying gave him a front-row starting spot on Race Two’s partially-reversed grid.

Contact from behind at the start pushed him off the track at the first corner and dropped him to 11th, but he fought back to eighth, only to be demoted to 12th with a post-race penalty for contact.

He was on top form in Race Three to finish seventh and become the first Chinese points-scorer in WTCR.

Team-mate Tom Coronel started both races from the back row, but used all his experience to gain 10 spots during the early stages of each. Unfortunately, an electrical issue meant he did not reach the chequered flag.

The weekend results mean Münnich and Boutsen Ginion hold third and 10th places in the Teams’ Championship while Esteban is the best-placed Civic Type R TCR pilot in the Drivers’ points table in sixth.

The series continues at Honda’s home racetrack, Suzuka, in three weeks’ time.

2018 WTCR Race of China - Wuhan

Honda Pro Racing / David Noels

Esteban Guerrieri ⁸⁶

“Fourth is a good way to finish what’s been a tough weekend. The car has got better and better in every session and this is a good result for the whole team for the work they’ve done. I made a great start, got a push at Turn One and had to go off the track. I gained two positions and was told by race control to give them back, which I think was OK. Then towards the end I had a broken exhaust, which was costing me power and meant I had to defend really hard, so I’m pleased with the result.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Yann Ehrlacher ⁶⁸

“I’ve had a tough day. After finishing fourth on the road yesterday, we made a change to the set-up that wasn’t so much to my liking, but still should have been OK, except I got blocked twice on my last lap in Q1 and qualified 21st. On a street circuit, you cannot do anything from there. I did make two good starts and was able to overtake, but I just started too far back to battle for points.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Timo Scheider ⁴²

“It’s been an incredibly frustrating day. I haven’t completed a lap at racing speed and have had no chance to see the improvements the team have made to the car during the weekend. In Race Two a car turned in on me and in Race Three I had the track completely blocked in front of me and had nowhere to go so again I had big damage. The team did a great job to fix the front suspension between the two races, but unfortunately this just wasn’t our weekend.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Qing Hua Ma ⁵⁵

“It’s been a good day. I got into Q2 and had strong pace in both races. I think two points finishes were a good reward for the team, who did a fantastic job this weekend. We needed to change some things with the set-up for today and the Honda was much better. Starting second in Race Two, I got a push at Turn One and had to go off and lose many positions, but I overtook some cars and finished eighth before the penalty. To get seventh in Race Two was even better. To achieve this against the WTCR drivers, who really are the best touring car drivers in the world, is satisfying.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing

Tom Coronel ⁹

“Today has been a frustrating day. China has not been a lucky country for me this year and today there was an electrical issue that put me out of both races. It’s a shame because I made good starts in both races and was running about 10 places higher than where I started each time. I’m really looking forward to going back to Japan – a country where I raced successfully for several years – and to Suzuka, a circuit I love, where we can work to get some good results.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing

Dominik Greiner

Team Manager

“We’ve ended the weekend with a very good fourth-place finish from Esteban and that reflects the fact that from FP1 through to the final race, the team never stopped improving the car. This is a big credit to them. It’s a shame Yann was blocked in qualifying because I think he could have done something similar after his drive yesterday, and Timo was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in both races. We have all three cars in one piece, which after the crashes we saw today, is a good thing.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Olivia Boutsen

Team Manager

“We didn’t start the weekend in the strongest way, but today we’ve taken two good finishes from Ma Qinghua, who has shown himself to be a very good driver and has integrated himself extremely well into our team – who he had not even met 10 days ago. Tom has been so unlucky this year and that continued today with some electrical issues. China has not been good to him, but he knows Suzuka well so that gives us optimism as we prepare for the next event.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing

Mads Fischer

TCR Project Leader, JAS Motorsport

Mads Fischer, JAS Motorsport TCR Project Leader, said: “It’s been a tough weekend for all the drivers this weekend. Our car was not the fastest, but we know why this was, and all the drivers have found it challenging to find a set-up that works with the Civic Type R TCR and is to their liking. It’s a punishing street circuit and it’s taken its toll. Both ALL-INKL.COM Munnich Motorsport and Boutsen Ginion Racing have worked hard to improve their speed all weekend and we could see by the final race that the picture was far more positive.”

JAS Motorsport

7 Oct 2018

WTCR Race of China – Wuhan

Wuhan Street Circuit, China

WTCR 2018, Round 8

Sunday 7 Oct 2018, 11:05 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Total	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	30	25	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	23 laps
2	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	23	20	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+0.558
3	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	19	16	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+5.018
4	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	16	13	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+8.475
5	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	13	11	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+8.813
6	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	10	10	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+9.827
7	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	7	9	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+11.047
8	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	4	8	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+11.296
9	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	2	7	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+12.304
10	Thed Björk	11	SWE	1	6	YMR	Hyundai	+13.905
11	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	0	5	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+14.627
12	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	0	4	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+15.402
13	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	0	3	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+15.928
14	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	0	2	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+21.125
15	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	0	1	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+24.642
16	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	0	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+29.703
17	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	0	0	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+5 laps
NC	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	0	0	YMR	Hyundai	+DNF
NC	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	0	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+DNF
NC	Timo Scheider	42	GER	0	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+DNF
NC	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	0	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNF
NC	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	0	0	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+DNF
NC	Rob Huff	12	GBR	0	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+DNF
NC	Mato Homola	70	SLK	0	0	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+DNF
NC	John Filippi	27	FRA	0	0	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+DNS

Sunday 7 Oct 2018, 09:25 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Total	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	25	25	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	18 laps
2	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	18	20	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+0.478
3	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	15	16	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+0.618
4	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	12	13	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+5.115
5	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	10	11	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+5.516
6	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	8	10	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+5.988
7	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	6	9	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+6.489
8	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	4	8	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+11.585
9	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	2	7	YMR	Hyundai	+12.176
10	Rob Huff	12	GBR	1	6	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+12.482
11	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	0	5	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+13.814
12	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	0	4	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+15.229
13	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	0	3	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+15.373
14	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	0	2	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+16.025
15	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	0	1	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+16.664
16	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	0	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+26.507
17	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	0	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+41.252
18	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	0	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNF
19	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	0	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+DNF
20	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	0	0	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+DNF
21	Thed Björk	11	SWE	0	0	YMR	Hyundai	+DNF
22	John Filippi	27	FRA	0	0	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+DNF
23	Timo Scheider	42	GER	0	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+DNF
24	Mato Homola	70	SLK	0	0	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+DNF
25	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	0	0	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+DNF

Sunday 7 Oct 2018, 03:36 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Total	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	5	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	1:22.776
2	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	4	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+1:22.825
3	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	3	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+1:22.859
4	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	2	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+1:23.002
5	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	1	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+1:23.744
6	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	-	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+1:23.051
7	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	-	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+1:23.068
8	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	-	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+1:23.081
9	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	-	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+1:23.083
10	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	-	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+1:23.148
11	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	-	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+1:23.148
12	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	-	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+1:23.333
13	Rob Huff	12	GBR	-	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+1:23.342
14	Thed Björk	11	SWE	-	YMR	Hyundai	+1:23.346
15	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	-	YMR	Hyundai	+1:23.433
16	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	-	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+1:23.488
17	John Filippi	27	FRA	-	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+1:23.547
18	Timo Scheider	42	GER	-	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+1:23.578
19	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	-	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+1:23.656
20	Mato Homola	70	SLK	-	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+1:23.663
21	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	-	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+1:23.709
22	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	-	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+1:23.937
23	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	-	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+1:23.995
24	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	-	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+1:24.150
25	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	-	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+1:24.931

Saturday 6 Oct 2018, 09:48 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Total	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	27	25	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	20 laps
2	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	20	20	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+4.913
3	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	17	16	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+5.513
4	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	14	13	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+10.070
5	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	12	11	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+11.102
6	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	10	10	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+11.531
7	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	8	9	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+17.044
8	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	6	8	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+17.556
9	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	4	7	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+18.307
10	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	2	6	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+19.060
11	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	-	5	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+20.725
12	Thed Björk	11	SWE	-	4	YMR	Hyundai	+21.980
13	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	-	3	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+23.449
14	Rob Huff	12	GBR	-	2	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+24.049
15	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	-	1	YMR	Hyundai	+26.113
16	John Filippi	27	FRA	-	0	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+26.980
17	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	-	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+27.428
18	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	-	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+39.613
19	Timo Scheider	42	GER	-	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+5 laps
20	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	-	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNC
21	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	-	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNC
22	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	-	0	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+DNF
23	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	-	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+DNF
24	Mato Homola	70	SLK	-	0	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+DNF
25	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	-	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+DNF

Saturday 6 Oct 2018, 04:40 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	1:22.846
2	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	1:22.890
3	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	1:22.909
4	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	1:22.959
5	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	1:22.989
6	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	1:23.004
7	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	1:23.186
8	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	1:23.201
9	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	1:23.250
10	Mato Homola	70	SLK	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	1:23.256
11	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	1:23.322
12	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	1:23.359
13	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	1:23.368
14	Rob Huff	12	GBR	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	1:23.506
15	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	1:23.545
16	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	1:23.651
17	Thed Björk	11	SWE	YMR	Hyundai	1:23.655
18	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	YMR	Hyundai	1:23.669
19	Timo Scheider	42	GER	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	1:23.771
20	John Filippi	27	FRA	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	1:23.777
21	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	1:23.858
22	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	1:23.859
23	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	1:23.882
24	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	1:24.672
25	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	1:24.860