Guerrieri’s bid revived by brace
Esteban Guerrieri propelled himself into contention for the World Touring Car Cup with a double victory at the Hungaroring last Sunday, as points leader Yann Ehrlacher won the reversed-grid race.
Argentinian Guerrieri rose from fifth in the standings to second after a mammoth haul of 69 points, thanks to a brace of pole positions and race wins, plus a seventh place in race two. That leaves the Munnich Motorsport Honda driver just 22 points behind Cyan Racing’s Ehrlacher with two rounds – six races – to go.
Guerrieri was chased hard all the way by Ehrlacher’s Lynk & Co in the first race, as dry weather finally blessed the
Hungaroring after a solid day of rain on Saturday. Remarkably, Nestor Girolami scored a podium for Munnich Motorsport, just seven days after his Civic was almost destroyed in a big accident at the Skovakia Ring. The result was a reward for his mechanics, who had built up a new car on the original chassis in just 24 hours.
Bence Boldizs found himself on pole for the reversed-grid race at his home circuit, but at the start the Zengo Motorsport Cupra Leon was quickly shuffled back. Yvan Muller and Ehrlacher took control, uncle allowing nephew past on the opening lap to help his title cause. Guerrieri played it safe to finish eighth on the road, which became seventh after a five-second penalty was applied to Nathanael Berthon’s Audi for a collision with Boldizs, who was classified sixth.
In the final race of the day, Guerrieri had the benefit not only of starting from pole, but also of being surrounded by his Honda team-mates, the four Civics having locked out the two front rows. At the start Attila Tassi lost places, but Tiago Monteiro and Girolami rallied around Guerrieri to ride shotgun. And the leader needed their help. It emerged that his Honda had been damaged during race two, a wheelarch liner and the front splitter working loose. But the protection of his team-mates allowed Guerrieri to nurse his car to his second win of the day and third of the season.
“Thank you to my team-mates and friends for this big help,” he said. “It was really difficult to brake, I had no acceleration and the aero balance was completely disturbed. The car was all over the place. But they supported me so well, I could push as hard as possible while not having to defend.”
Girolami’s second podium of the day was again down to his mechanics, who had come to his rescue once more after he’d damaged his rear suspension in a collision with Mikel Azcona in race two. But in the space of a week, Munnich’s title focus had switched from Girolami to Guerrieri as their most likely hope to overhaul Ehrlacher. The French racer finished eighth in race three after a circumspect drive to secure safe points.