Néstor Girolami says race simulations were “key” to Buenos Aires win

WTCR regular Néstor Girolami won the TCR South America Buenos Aires endurance race with W2 Racing regular Raphael Reis, naming race simulations during Friday as key to the win.

“Our key was running race simulations in the free practices, we didn’t focus on the qualifying,” said Girolami to TouringCarTimes.com.

“Being this is such a long race, if you don’t know how much you can push the tyres to the limit until they are gone, you don’t understand how flat out you can go. With those sims we got the tyres’ temperatures and degradations, that was useful data for today.”

Girolami was one of few co-drivers that took the start of the race, handing over the wheel to Reis at mid-point of the race.

“If then I couldn’t pass the other Hondas, Milla and Sapag I knew the rest would be hard, since drivers like Guerrieri, Rosso and Oriola were coming,” said Girolami.

“Positioning the car five seconds ahead was appropriate for Raphael to complete the plan. I don’t know how standings are now, but Raphael was really happy. We knew that no matter how well we go in qualifying, we needed to be strong in the race.”

The victory is Girolami’s first in TCR South America, stating that he hopes the championship can help promote more international touring car talents from Argentina.

“Winning in Buenos Aires is special, racing the same car of my WTCR programme in front of my crowd, in a new series also,” said Girolami.

“These cars were never here, I’m really happy. It’s a new era for Argentine motorsport, we are opening a new way since José María López, now Esteban and myself, my brother Franco in TCR Europe. We want the young Argentine drivers to follow us.”