Esteban Guerrieri: “When I first drove the Cruze, I realised it was a very good car”

Esterban Guerrieri is delighted, and says he’s not surprised, after qualifying in third position at the Hungaroring in the Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze, saying that the RML-built car is a really strong car.

The Argentinian was the fastest driver in the first run in Qualifying 2, only beaten by the Münnich Citroën of Rob Huff later in the session. Guerrieri was unable to get back ahead of the other Citroën of Mehdi Bennani in the single-lap shootout, but says he’s happy with where he is on the grid, outqualifying all of the factory Volvos and Hondas.

“My target was to get into Q3, which we knew we had the opportunity because the other factory cars had weight,” said Guerrieri.

“My car feels quite good. We had some understeer, so I just tried to be on the edge and not to overdrive or end up killing the front tyres.”

After winning Race 1 in Morocco, the Super TC 2000 Championship driver has had a strong start to the year, now joint-sixth in the championship after qualifying points have been allocated.

“When I drove this car in Argentina at Termas, I realised it was a very good car,” he explained. “In Marrakech, it was a new circuit for me, but we’d have been around sixth if it hadn’t been for the yellows in qualifying.

“In Monza, we had a disadvantage to the factory cars, but with the compensation weight here that’s changed. Our budget is really small, so we have no development money, all we’re doing is developing our set-up, so I’m very happy to be where we are and am focussed to stay here.”