Esteban Guerrieri says first Monza day “did not make any sense”

Esteban Guerrieri was expected to be one of the front-runners during the FIA TCR World Tour race weekend at Monza with just 10kg of compensation weight and a Honda which usually performs well at high-speed circuits. But the GOAT Racing driver could only manage 15th in qualifying.

“The last two qualifying sessions have not been the best,” said Guerrieri.

“In Valencia, with 40kg it was difficult, but today this hasn’t made any sense for us yet. We’re reviewing ourselves, but probably we messed up with the set-up. I had massive oversteer, losing lap time compared to yesterday, while everyone else improved while we went backwards.”

The Argentinian driver managed to climb the order in the first race, capitalising on competitors suffering punctures to finish a strong fifth, passing Hyundai driver Néstor Girolami on the very last lap.

“In the race, we had good pace. The race was good; I managed the pace in the beginning and then tried to move forward,” said Guerrieri.

“I could overtake Néstor (Girolami) on the last lap and finish P5. We picked up some points and it was a bit of damage limitation today.”

The second and final reversed-grid race will see Guerrieri, who is placed third overall in the drivers’ championship, start from 15th place again.