Race Report

Guerrieri retains WTCR points lead in China

WTCR Race of China

Ningbo International Speedpark, China

WTCR 2019, Round 7

Esteban Guerrieri and ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport remain on top of the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup standings, despite a day of incredible difficulty at Ningbo International Speedpark, China.

The Argentinian, who had qualified ninth during the morning, suffered a disastrous start to Saturday’s opening race as he accidentally set of his Honda Civic Type R TCR’s in-car fire extinguisher on the grid just as the formation lap was about to start.

Having pushed his car into the pitlane, the team’s mechanics launched an instant clean-up operation, and after a superhuman effort, were able to send their man on his way for a pitlane start.

A superb recovery brought Esteban from 26th to 19th in just 13 laps, but with team-mate Nestor Girolami finishing only 15th, Civic Type R TCR drivers scored just one point on the day.

Bebu’s qualifying performance had been affected by a throttle-sensor problem on his first planned run on fresh tyres, and a mistake on his final run that led to him abandoning the session and starting 17th.

The results mean that Esteban’s series lead has been reduced to nine points while Münnich are 40 clear in the Teams’ standings.

KCMG drivers Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi – both of whom were competing at Ningbo for the first time – made excellent progress in second practice; the duo gaining significantly compared to Friday.

They started 20th and 23rd with Tiago, in particular, making a tremendous start to climb into the points-paying top 15 after just four corners.

Multiple contact midway round the lap left him with steering damage for the remainder of the 13-lap race. He and Attila finished 21st and 23rd.

2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels
2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels
2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels
Nestor Girolami

Nestor Girolami 29

“I was thinking of the top 10 today because in practice we were in the top six in both sessions. I had a problem with the throttle sensor and that cost me some track time, then I made a mistake on my last lap, so I was further back. I then had the same throttle problem on the last lap of the race, but it cut out at the hairpin, so I was able to hold the line and not lose a place. We have to fix this issue before qualifying tomorrow because there are lots of points to be had in Sunday’s two races.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Esteban Guerrieri

Esteban Guerrieri 86

“It could have been a good day for points, but instead it’s been a very bad one. From 12th on the grid, the top 10 was the target and we could have achieved it. I went to put my glove on when I was preparing for the formation lap, but I clipped the fire-extinguisher button by accident with my knuckles and it went off. The guys did an amazing job to clean up the car, but I had to start from the pitlane and although we recovered some positions, the championship lead is now much smaller. Tomorrow will be a very important day.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Tiago Monteiro

Tiago Monteiro 18

“Having won in Vila Real and now finished 21st today, I can confirm that I prefer starting at the front. I actually made a great start and passed Bebu, so I must have been about 14th or 15th, then a lot of cars went off at Turn Six and as they all came back onto the circuit I got hit so many times in all corners of the car. I had damaged steering and couldn’t make any progress after that. I think the driving has become more aggressive again at this end of the grid. Even with all that, the race pace was not too far off, so we probably don’t need to make too much progress to be in a good points position tomorrow.”

KCMG
Attila Tassi

Attila Tassi 9

“Turns Six and Seven; what a mess! So many cars came back onto the circuit that I had to just pick a part of the track and hope I didn’t get hit too hard. We know other cars have a BoP this weekend that’s better-suited to this track than we are, and it’s been tough trying to get used to the track on what’s my first time racing here. All the corners blend into each other so if you make a mistake in one, it can cost you for three or four turns and then suddenly you’ve lost half a second. Qualifying was a bit like this. We definitely took a step forward on race pace, but when you’re at the back, progress is very hard.”

KCMG
Dominik Greiner

Dominik Greiner

Team Manager

“Today just wasn’t our day, but we win as a team and we lose as one too. I have to congratulate the mechanics, who did an incredible job to get Esteban’s car cleaned up after the fire extinguisher went off, and got him to the end of the pitlane before the lights went out for the start. He finished 19th, but if we’d had a few incidents at the front, that could easily have been a points finish. This ‘never-give-up’ attitude is incredibly strong in our team. We’re still leading both championships and tomorrow’s a new day with lots of points on offer, so we’ll give it everything.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Dario d’Esposito

Dario d'Esposito

Team Principal

“We came here on a high after the win in Vila Real, but we knew the BoP and the compensation weight combination was going to make Ningbo a very difficult circuit for all the Honda customer teams. We were not where we wanted to be in FP1, but we made a good step forwards in FP2. Neither driver has raced here before and I think that showed because we don’t get a lot of track time, but by the race, we seemed in better shape and Tiago’s laptimes were very similar to those of Esteban [Guerrieri]. Tomorrow if we can execute qualifying well, we can get both drivers in the points.”

KCMG
WTCR Race of China

Ningbo International Speedpark, China

WTCR 2019, Round 7

Saturday 14 Sep 2019, 09:16 Europe/London
# Driver Num Nationality Nat. Total Points Pts. Team Constructor Constr. Time/Gap
1 Yvan Muller 100 FRA 25 0 Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 13 laps
2 Qing Hua Ma 55 CHN 20 0 Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +0.263
3 Mikel Azcona 96 SPA 16 0 PWR Racing Cupra +2.444
4 Norbert Michelisz 5 HUN 13 0 BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +2.843
5 Nick Catsburg 88 NDL 11 0 BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team Hyundai +3.092
6 Aurélien Panis 21 FRA 10 0 Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing Audi +3.603
7 Augusto Farfus 8 BRA 9 0 BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team Hyundai +9.028
8 Johan Kristoffersson 14 SWE 8 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Volkswagen +11.440
9 Niels Langeveld 10 NDL 7 0 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +12.526
10 Rob Huff 12 GBR 6 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +13.903
11 Frederic Vervisch 22 BEL 5 0 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +15.440
12 Thed Björk 11 SWE 4 0 Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co +18.021
13 Yann Ehrlacher 68 FRA 3 0 Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co +18.602
14 Andy Priaulx 111 GBR 2 0 Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co +19.602
15 Nestor Girolami 29 ARG 1 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +20.069
16 Jean-Karl Vernay 69 FRA 0 0 Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +20.631
17 Kevin Ceccon 31 ITA 0 0 Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +21.118
18 Benjamin Leuchter 33 GER 0 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Volkswagen +21.515
19 Esteban Guerrieri 86 ARG 0 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +23.224
20 Mehdi Bennani 25 MAR 0 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +26.212
21 Tiago Monteiro 18 POR 0 0 KCMG Honda +26.576
22 Gordon Shedden 52 GBR 0 0 Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +28.614
23 Attila Tassi 9 HUN 0 0 KCMG Honda +29.585
24 Tom Coronel 50 NDL 0 0 Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing Cupra +39.538
25 Gabriele Tarquini 1 ITA 0 0 BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +4 laps
NC Daniel Haglof 37 SWE 0 0 PWR Racing Cupra DNF
Saturday 14 Sep 2019, 05:16 Europe/London
# Driver Num Nationality Nat. Total Team Constructor Constr. Time/Gap
1 Yvan Muller 100 FRA 5 Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 1:50.848
2 Qing Hua Ma 55 CHN 4 Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +1:50.898
3 Mikel Azcona 96 SPA 3 PWR Racing Cupra +1:50.988
4 Norbert Michelisz 5 HUN 2 BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +1:51.015
5 Johan Kristoffersson 14 SWE 1 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Volkswagen +1:51.118
6 Nick Catsburg 88 NDL 0 BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team Hyundai +1:51.265
7 Aurélien Panis 21 FRA 0 Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing Audi +1:51.309
8 Augusto Farfus 8 BRA 0 BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team Hyundai +1:51.406
9 Esteban Guerrieri 86 ARG 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +1:51.427
10 Daniel Haglof 37 SWE 0 PWR Racing Cupra +1:51.493
11 Niels Langeveld 10 NDL 0 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +1:51.521
12 Andy Priaulx 111 GBR 0 Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co +1:51.526
13 Thed Björk 11 SWE 0 Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co +1:51.557
14 Kevin Ceccon 31 ITA 0 Mulsanne Srl Alfa Romeo +1:51.575
15 Frederic Vervisch 22 BEL 0 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi +1:51.652
16 Yann Ehrlacher 68 FRA 0 Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co +1:51.749
17 Rob Huff 12 GBR 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +1:51.791
18 Nestor Girolami 29 ARG 0 ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda +1:51.807
19 Mehdi Bennani 25 MAR 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen +1:51.809
20 Benjamin Leuchter 33 GER 0 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Volkswagen +1:51.828
21 Tiago Monteiro 18 POR 0 KCMG Honda +1:51.847
22 Jean-Karl Vernay 69 FRA 0 Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +1:52.868
23 Gabriele Tarquini 1 ITA 0 BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai +1:52.026
24 Attila Tassi 9 HUN 0 KCMG Honda +1:52.089
25 Tom Coronel 50 NDL 0 Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing Cupra +1:52.162
26 Gordon Shedden 52 GBR 0 Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport Audi +1:52.599
2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels
2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels
2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels
2019 WTCR Race of China
Honda Pro Racing / David Noels