Race Report

Incredible recovery puts Guerrieri on pole in Macau

15 Nov 2019

WTCR Race of Macau

Macau Guia Circuit, Macau

WTCR 2019, Round 9

Esteban Guerreri staged a remarkable recovery to put his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R on pole position for a crucial WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup race on the fabled streets of Macau on Friday.

The Argentinian, who leads the championship with just six races remaining, hauled his car into 10th place in the second part of the three-stage afternoon qualifying session, sealing pole on Race 2’s partially-reversed grid by less than a tenth of a second.

The achievement was a remarkable turnaround for last year’s Macau race winner, who qualified 13th for Saturday’s opener, but was then sent to the back of the grid after his team decided to replace a down-on-power engine that had been losing him up to one second of laptime in the flat-out blast along Macau’s shoreline section.

Team-mate Nestor Girolami qualified 18th in the morning and did exactly the same later on; each time providing Esteban with a tow to assist his title hopes.

Having never driven a TCR machine at Macau before Thursday, he was comfortable with his improvement in 24 hours.

KCMG’s Tiago Monteiro starts Saturday’s opener from 15th place, and was confident of making the top 10 in the afternoon and featuring in the reversed-grid mix.

Unfortunately for the Portuguese driver, the winner of Macau’s Guia Race in 2016, a succession of yellow and red flags prevented him from setting a single representative time and limited him to 26th.

Team-mate Attila Tassi, like Tiago, was appearing at Macau for the first time in three years. Recovering from a practice incident, he qualified 22nd in the morning and improved to 17th later in the day.

KC Motorgroup’s wildcard entry, driven by Hong Kong’s Jim Ka To, qualified 27th for the opening race. Ka To, however, was involved in a collision in the afternoon session without having set a laptime, and will have to receive special dispensation to start on Sunday.

Team TRC’s wildcard drivers endured a tough day. James Tang was the fastest of them and went 29th and 28th, despite a spin in the final minute of the opening section of the afternoon running. However, neither lap was fast enough to make the grid for the races.

Terence Tse crashed in both the morning and the afternoon and did not set a laptime fast enough to surpass the 107 per cent qualifying mark either. Following Friday practice, Arthur Law opted not to take part in today’s sessions.

2019 WTCR Race of Macau

Honda Pro Racing / David Noels

Esteban Guerrieri ⁸⁶

“I think we achieved the maximum today in the afternoon. From the disappointment of practice and first qualifying, and then the engine change, I can’t tell you how amazing in feels to be starting on pole position for Race Two. The guys did an incredible job to get everything changed. Last in the first race, first in the next one… Today’s been a rollercoaster, but I’m so proud of the guys. Tomorrow probably won’t give us much, but we have great potential for Sunday and for Sepang.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Nestor Girolami ²⁹

“Today was really hard because we had a lot of things to overcome from practice, but actually we made a good step forwards. My grid positions are not the best, but we did a good team job to help Esteban as much as possible with a slipstream. I didn’t get a big slipstream like him, but I was only 0.4 seconds slower, so that’s quite close actually. The key for the rest of the weekend is to avoid any incidents and try to score as many points as possible to keep us in the running for the Teams’ Championship.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Attila Tassi ⁹

“The positions were not so good, but I made good progress from first qualifying through to the afternoon, and when you consider my lack of experience at this circuit compared to Tiago, I’m pretty pleased to only be a little bit behind him on time. I could have been faster in the afternoon; but I had yellow flags and was blocked a bit. I think I’d have been right up with Esteban, challenging for a Q2 spot.”

KCMG

Tiago Monteiro ¹⁸

"We didn't so a single flying lap. Yellow flags, cars crashing... We had decent pace and I thought we could challenge for the reversed-grid pole. I'm so frustrated because from yesterday, we knew the speed was ok. Yes we were losing time on the straights, but in the twisty section, the balance was very good. It was just a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time, every time’. It’s the most frustrating qualifying session of my life."

KCMG

Jim Ka To ¹⁹

“I lost a lot of track time in practice because of an incident, so I was playing catch-up today. I was the fastest wildcard in the morning qualifying and I was confident of making more progress as I found more comfort with the car later on. In the afternoon session, I was on my first pushing lap, I came out of the hairpin and I just got hit from behind by [Robert] Dahlgren and my session was over. I think he could have avoided hitting me. We will ask the organisers if we can still start on Sunday because we were well inside the 107 per cent mark in Q1.”

KC Motorgroup

James Tang ⁹⁸

“It’s been a fantastic experience to compete at Macau against the world’s best touring car drivers. This is my 10th time here, but all the other times have been in support events, so it’s a big step up for me and my team. I’m proud to be the fastest wildcard in the afternoon qualifying, but disappointed I wasn’t quite able to get inside the 107 per cent time. I was on target to get in during Q2, but on my last lap I was hit from behind by [Aurelien] Panis. He went ‘bang, bang,’ and I spun. I’m proud of my team and we’ll enjoy the rest of the weekend supporting the other Hondas.”

Team TRC

Dominik Greiner

Team Manager

“I’m so proud of the job done by the crew on Esteban’s car for changing the engine in record time – less than two hours – and the result of being on pole for the reversed-grid race, which was the target, is the most we could have expected today. Starting Race One from the back with Esteban is a huge penalty, but we made good progress from practice and it should put us in a situation where we can maximise our potential to score big points in Race Two – and hopefully win it – and add more in Race Three.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Dario d'Esposito

Team Principal

“The first session was not so bad today and we went into second quali quite confident of being close to or in the top 12, but because of blocking, yellow flags, red flags, the lack of a decent tow and some other things, we didn’t get a clear lap with Tiago, so we were much further back. The BoP isn’t helping us this weekend anywhere, so it’s hard to be fast. We’ll still try to make sure we score points with both drivers.”

KCMG

15 Nov 2019

WTCR Race of Macau

Macau Guia Circuit, Macau

Friday 15 Nov 2019, 07:23 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Total	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Rob Huff	12	GBR	5	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	2:28.538
2	Andy Priaulx	111	GBR	4	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:28.744
3	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	3	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:29.336
4	Nick Catsburg	88	NDL	2	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai	+2:29.531
5	Johan Kristoffersson	14	SWE	1	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen	Volkswagen	+2:31.369
6	Yvan Muller	100	FRA	0	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:28.960
7	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+2:29.010
8	Thed Björk	11	SWE	0	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:29.133
9	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	0	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:29.291
10	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:29.291
11	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+2:29.571
12	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+2:29.986
13	Niels Langeveld	10	NDL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:30.070
14	Tom Coronel	50	NDL	0	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Cupra	+2:30.092
15	Luca Engstler		GER	0			+2:30.146
16	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	0	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:30.180
17	Attila Tassi	9	HUN	0	KCMG	Honda	+2:30.359
18	Nestor Girolami	29	ARG	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:30.375
19	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:30.510
20	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+2:30.684
21	Robert Dahlgren	2	SWE	0	PWR Racing	Cupra	+2:31.048
22	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	0	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+2:31.498
23	Mikel Azcona	96	SPA	0	PWR Racing	Cupra	+2:31.605
24	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+2:31.691
25	Benjamin Leuchter	33	GER	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen	Volkswagen	+2:31.871
26	Tiago Monteiro	18	POR	0	KCMG	Honda	+2:32.183
27	Billy Lo	36	MAC	0	TSRT Zuver Team	Audi	+2:35.384
28	James Tang	98	CHN	0	Team TRC	Honda	+2:37.801
29	Anson Wong	59	CHN	0	Son Veng Racing Team	Volkswagen	+2:41.201
30	Jim Ka To	19	CHN	0	KC Motorgroup	Honda	+No time
31	Terence Tse	97	CHN	0	Team TRC	Honda	+No time

Friday 15 Nov 2019, 02:55 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Total	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Yvan Muller	100	FRA	5	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	2:28.661
2	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	4	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+2:28.729
3	Andy Priaulx	111	GBR	3	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:28.806
4	Kevin Ceccon	31	ITA	2	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+2:28.846
5	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	1	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:28.942
6	Thed Björk	11	SWE	0	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co	+2:29.060
7	Rob Huff	12	GBR	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+2:29.451
8	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+2:29.470
9	Benjamin Leuchter	33	GER	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen	Volkswagen	+2:29.660
10	Mikel Azcona	96	SPA	0	PWR Racing	Cupra	+2:29.683
11	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:29.709
12	Nick Catsburg	88	NDL	0	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai	+2:29.833
13	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:29.891
14	Robert Dahlgren	2	SWE	0	PWR Racing	Cupra	+2:29.919
15	Tiago Monteiro	18	POR	0	KCMG	Honda	+2:30.039
16	Johan Kristoffersson	14	SWE	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen	Volkswagen	+2:30.200
17	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	0	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:30.353
18	Nestor Girolami	29	ARG	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:30.445
19	Qing Hua Ma	55	CHN	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+2:30.462
20	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	0	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+2:30.788
21	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+2:30.835
22	Attila Tassi	9	HUN	0	KCMG	Honda	+2:30.867
23	Niels Langeveld	10	NDL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:30.888
24	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	0	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:31.533
25	Luca Engstler		GER	0			+2:31.608
26	Tom Coronel	50	NDL	0	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Cupra	+2:31.654
27	Jim Ka To	19	CHN	0	KC Motorgroup	Honda	+2:33.654
28	Billy Lo	36	MAC	0	TSRT Zuver Team	Audi	+2:34.791
29	James Tang	98	CHN	0	Team TRC	Honda	+2:36.795
30	Anson Wong	59	CHN	0	Son Veng Racing Team	Volkswagen	+2:39.999
31	Terence Tse	97	CHN	0	Team TRC	Honda	+2:43.146