Néstor Girolami in the points on potential last outing in Portugal

Reigning Argentinian Super TC 2000 champion Néstor Girolami was in the points again in his second appearance in the World Touring Car Championship at Vila Real, but rues a mistake in the second part of qualifying which saw him unable to capitalise on his strong pace shown during the weekend.

At the end of Free Practice 2, on new tyres, Girolami had placed his Nika International Honda Civic third overall behind the two Citroëns of José María López and Sébastien Loeb, and with a faster time in the first part of qualifying he ensured he went through into the second part of qualifying, but an error at Turn 7 saw the 26-year-old crash out and was forced to start 12th for both races.

An oil pressure problem saw him retire right away in race one, but he was able to run consistently in race two and capitalise on the mistakes made ahead to finish eighth and score four more points in the championship.

“I’m not very happy because I made a mistake in qualifying, and maybe if the qualifying was better in the second race I would have had a better opportunity,” said Girolami to TouringCarTimes. “But racing is racing, the limits of the track is very tight and in qualifying you have to put everything into it.”

Portugal is set to be the Argentinian’s last outing for Nika International. Girolami is hoping to be back for some of the Asian races but this is partly dependent upon the calendar of the Super TC 2000 Championship which remains fluid during the final months of 2015, with events subject to change.

It’s also possible that a return would have to be with a team other than Nika, as the Swedish team is hoping to field Rickard Rydell for the final four races as it gets back on track with its two-year development programme, which was disrupted when Rydell was struck with a case of Thyroiditis before Morocco.