Civic Type R TCR drivers head to Nürburgring leading the pack
NürburgringThe second round of the 2022 season awaits Honda Racing’s WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup drivers this weekend, with Nestor Girolami heading to the Nürburgring Nordschleife at the top of the standings.
Not only does the visit to Germany mark the home event for Honda’s customer racing teams ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport and LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler, but both also have pedigree at the track. The former has taken pole in qualifying in each of the past two years, while the latter was a race winner last year.
Nestor was the driver who secured those Nürburgring pole positions in an ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Civic Type R TCR, and is top of this year’s standings courtesy of a pole, victory and seventh-place finish at the opening round of the season in Pau-Ville earlier this month.
The Argentinian, who turned 33 on Sunday, is confident of carrying that form into round two as well, despite the fact the Civic Type R TCR will carry the maximum 40kg compensation weight at the ‘Green Hell’.
Team-mate Esteban Guerrieri is second in the standings, having been on the tail of ‘Bebu’ in both qualifying and the opening race in Pau.
Two of Esteban’s WTCR record of 10 wins have been taken at the Nürburgring; one in 2018 and the other in 2020.
Success at the fearsome 25.378-kilometre circuit is also in abundance at LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler, with Tiago Monteiro having won the opening race of the 2021 season in spectacular fashion.
His team-mate Attila Tassi is a podium finisher at the track, taking a third place in 2020, and also rose from 13th on the grid to finish fourth in Race Two last year.
Both head to the Nürburgring with a point to prove, knowing their results on a tough raceday in Pau were in no way indicative of their potential.
The nature of the Nürburgring weekend means both free practice sessions will take place on Thursday, with a standalone 40-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon. The two races then take place on Saturday, at 10am 12.35pm local time.
It’s a privilege to be leading the WTCR Drivers’ standings, and I want to keep this momentum up as we head to the Nordschleife. We knew because of our performance in Pau we would receive the maximum compensation weight, but I still feel confident because in the last two years I have been able to take pole position, and I will be a bit bold and say we can be in the fight again this time. I feel like it’s my year to fight for the title, so I will work even harder for the rest of the year to maintain this position in the Championship.
The Nürburgring Nordschleife weekend is always one of the highlights of the WTCR season. It’s one of my favourite tracks, certainly one of the most challenging anywhere, and I’m grateful I’ve been able to celebrate two race wins so far in my career there. We had a great start to the season in Pau and while that means we carry more weight this weekend, we have reason to be confident in our package and lots of data to go off that will hopefully put us on a strong footing all weekend.
Nothing really compares to the Nordschleife - not even Macau or Vila Real, which are two other great, hardcore tracks. There is an intensity that you feel as soon as you get there, and you know you’ll be fighting with yourself, the car, and the track. It’s so hard to go fast there and so hard to win that when you do it’s something that nothing compares to. Having done so last year it would be great to repeat this, but we have to be realistic because we haven’t tested there this year and we’re going to be a bit heavier than we would like. It will be a challenge, but on the Nordschleife anything can happen.
Pau wasn’t the start to the season I had hoped for, but encouragingly the pace was there so I hope I can maintain that and bounce back with a good weekend in Germany. It’s such a demanding race track but also so rewarding when you get everything right. I have finished in the top four at least once each year I have raced there since my first full season in the WTCR, and although we will be heavier this weekend I am sure there will be possibilities to score another strong result. Maximising the track time before qualifying will be a big part of this.
