Esteban Guerrieri thrilled with “rollercoaster” of the last 18 months

New Honda signing Esteban Guerrieri is excited ahead of the 2018 World Touring Car Cup season, to be racing with Münnich Motorsport in the brand-new Honda Civic Type R TCR, and explains the last 18 months have led to this perfect opportunity.

33-year-old Guerrieri, who remained in contention for the 2017 WTCC drivers’ title up until the end, despite driving for both Campos Racing in the unfancied Chevrolet Cruze, before switching to Honda for the last three events, will be Honda’s only full-season entry in the 2018 WTCR, after Tiago Monteiro will be forced to miss at least the first round.

The Argentinian will race for Münnich Motorsport, which expand from one car, last year a Citroën C-Elysée WTCC for Rob Huff, to three Honda Civics for Guerrieri, rising star Yann Ehrlacher and touring car legend James Thompson this year.

“I said it has been like a rollercoaster in my life during the last 18 months,” said Guerrieri. “Two years ago, I really wanted to be in this place, so it’s difficult to explain in a few words.”

Guerrieri’s first WTCC opportunity came at his home race in 2016, driving a one-off entry for Campos Racing where he impressed on his debut, only let down in the races by a mechanical issue which took away a sure-fire debut podium.

“Coming from South America, I’ve never had a budget, so the few opportunities I’ve had I’ve tried to do as best as I could. In my single-seater career, I was nearly on the door of F1.

“After 2016 came the four races I had planned to do last year, which we were able to continue, with a lot of help from Campos and the category, and then after that came the opportunity with Honda – I was quite surprised, but all I can say that my focus was always to get to this point, and now that I’m here, I’m really happy,” he said.

The Argentinian has stepped back from his joint-programme in the Super TC 2000 championship, where he raced for Citroën last year, as his Honda contract precludes him for racing for other manufacturers, and with Honda having left Super TC 2000 five years ago.

Guerrieri is also excited to race in the new WTCR with its stunning line-up in 2018 of new and experienced drivers, and seven different manufacturers on the grid.

“You can see, there’s a lot more teams, a lot more manufacturers, so there’s a big expectation,” said Guerrieri.

“When you see many cars, many trucks, many people, this all looks a lot more positive, but it’ll be the fight on track that will be the real measurement of how it will be.”