All-Honda podium in Hungary as Guerrieri wins twice

Honda’s WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup drivers clinched a sensational podium lockout in the final race at the Hungaroring, as Esteban Guerrieri ignited his 2020 title challenge with a brace of victories.

The Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCRs had one day earlier clinched a famous top-four sweep in qualifying, and were just as imperious come raceday as the car claimed five of the nine podium positions on offer across the three races.

Esteban secured his second victory of the campaign in race one by resisting a stern challenger from behind - a crucial result for his title aspirations, as his nearest challenger was the current points leader.

The Argentinian’s second win of the day looked more comfortable as he, Tiago Monteiro and Nestor Girolami swept the podium positions, but in truth it was more complicated - with Esteban nursing front-end damage for the majority of the race.

He was nevertheless able to control the pace, safe from attack from behind, as the leading trio ran unchallenged for the majority of the 15-lap finale, securing the first one-two-three race result for the Civic Type R TCR in the series.

A victory double moves ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver Esteban - who was classified seventh in race two - up to second in the drivers’ standings, 22 points behind the series leader with six races to go.

Tiago’s runner-up finish in race three was a welcome first podium of the year for the Portuguese racer.

Measured drives in all three races were rewarded with a cleanest weekend of the season yet for the ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport driver, though he still had to negotiate his way into the points from the back of the grid in race one after an engine change, finishing 14th, and also survived contact in race two to claim ninth.

That hit left his mechanics in a race against time to repair damage to the front of his Civic Type R TCR before the final race, but he repaid their efforts with a great launch from third on the grid to slot into second, holding station thereafter to secure his first top-three finish in almost a year.

Nestor’s podium in race three was his second third-place finish of the weekend, having achieved the same result in race one.

From sixth on the grid in the opener, Nestor made up two places on lap one before completing an overtake at the fast Turn 4 left-hander to seal third.

Though there was disappointment in race two for the Argentinian, who was eliminated after he was involved in a collision at Turn 2 on the opening lap, ‘Bebu’ nevertheless ended the day happy after securing his first podium finishes since victory in the season opener at Zolder last month.

Though there was no home podium for Attila Tassi, the Hungarian played his part in what was a landmark weekend of successes for Münnich Motorsport and the Civic Type R TCR in the WTCR.

Attila logged a strong fifth in race one, was eighth in race two, and completed a hat-trick of top-10 finishes with a determined run to sixth in the finale after losing out at the start.

The weekend’s results mean ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport remain second in the teams’ championship, 30 points behind the leading outfit, with ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport fifth overall.

There is now a two-week gap before the penultimate weekend of the six-round 2020 WTCR season, which will be held at Spanish circuit Aragon.

Esteban Guerrieri said: “It’s an incredible feeling to share these victories and podiums with team-mates and friends beside me. Race one was fairly comfortable as, after a couple of laps, I was able to work out where I needed to cover the pace from behind. But actually race three was a bit more complicated; I went to the grass in race two when there was a drama at the second corner, and after that I started to sense something small. But because the cars were in parc ferme between the races there was no chance to look at it in detail. We checked the floor, the splitter, before race three and everything looked OK, But the feeling got worse when I went over 150km/h and then part of the wheelarch started to break, which also meant the splitter started to move and disturbed the balance. So it was tricky, but I had great support from behind. Thanks to the entire ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport team, to Honda, and to Attila too - who also deserves credit for his part in this result.”

Nestor Girolami said: “There’s been a lot of work for my mechanics to do after the past two weekends, first with the big crash in Slovakia and also the contact in race two here. I’m so proud of the whole team, they did a fantastic job, and I would like to dedicate this podium and one-two-three finish to them, because in the difficult moments they put in 100% to repair my car. We never give up, and this result is proof of that and the strong team spirit we have. It was great to be part of this result and to support Esteban; he was great all weekend and deserved the poles and race wins, which was the maximum we could have hoped for this weekend.”

Tiago Monteiro said: “I have to say congratulations to Esteban, Bebu, and Attila as well for not only this result but our performances this weekend. The whole Münnich Motorsport team has been fantastic, and we showed how teamwork should be done - of this I’m very proud. We came through some challenges in the first two races, so it feels so good to finally show our potential with a podium in race three. I did a good start, took the position from Attila, and then just followed Esteban’s rhythm. A big congratulations to the team, the mechanics did a brilliant job - they were under more pressure than it might have appeared between the races. But they proved what they’re capable of under pressure, which was beautiful to see.”

Attila Tassi said: “There are mixed emotions from this weekend, as it’s the first this season where we have finished all three races and we scored good points in each of them, but it’s a shame not to end up with a podium at my home event. Still, it was a great weekend for the team, so well done to everyone and I’m pleased to have played my part in this. I had my best start of the weekend in race three but ended up without anywhere really to go, so I lost out to Tiago - whose start was even better than mine - and then I had a big oversteer at Turn 1 which allowed Bebu, and another car as a result, to get past me. Later, I was overtaken by another car who basically pushed me off the track, which I don’t feel was correct.”

Dominik Greiner said: “We are absolutely ecstatic with this standout one-two-three victory, which is the perfect reward for the incredible hard work of the Münnich Motorsport mechanics over the past week. They did an excellent job in particular getting Nestor’s new car built after his big accident in Slovakia, and also today with the repairs they did between the races - which were significant jobs but went largely unseen. It's great to see these efforts pay off. We’re back in two title fights as a result of this, as there’s still plenty of races to go, so big congratulations again to both our crews and our drivers for this hard-earned success.”

Mads Fischer said: “This is a fantastic weekend for everyone involved in the Honda Civic Type R TCR project and of course for the Münnich Motorsport teams. The foundations for these results - particularly the fantastic podium lockout in race three - were set yesterday in qualifying, but there was still plenty to do today and we have to give credit to both the drivers and the crews, who also put in some real hard work today to get the cars out there. We can go home very happy and very proud of today’s achievements, which are the result of some amazing teamwork from everybody in the team.”