Esteban Guerrieri was pleased to cap off his weekend in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in Wuhan with a fourth place finish, calling it a ‘tough weekend’ despite actually gaining ground in the battle for the drivers’ title.
Guerrieri qualified his Honda in just 11th for the first race on Saturday, but the Argentine racer put in a determined drive to finish seventh and take crucial points out of his title rivals.
However, race two saw the Münnich Motorsport driver only able to take the chequered flag in 13th, despite starting in sixth, after slipping down the order on the first lap of the race when he went wide at the first corner and was forced to brake to avoid contact with Ma Qing Hua.
Guerrieri then made up one position in the final race of the day to take fifth, despite running for much of the race with his exhaust hanging from the underside of his Honda.
“Fourth is a good way to finish what’s been a tough weekend,” said Guerrieri. “The car has got better and better in every session and this is a good result for the whole team for the work they’ve done.
“[Race one] was a very tough race, but it’s a positive sign that I finished four places higher than where I started, and that I managed to overtake on a very tight track.
“I made a great start [in race three], got a push at Turn One and had to go off the track. I gained two positions and was told by race control to give them back, which I think was OK.
“Then towards the end I had a broken exhaust, which was costing me power and meant I had to defend really hard, so I’m pleased with the result.”
Münnich Motorsport Team Manager Dominik Greiner praised the efforts of his team for continually working on improving Guerrieri’s car, allowing him to move from being 67 points adrift in the championship to 42 leaving China.
“We’ve ended the weekend with a very good fourth-place finish from Esteban,” said Greiner. “That reflects the fact that from FP1 through to the final race, the team never stopped improving the car. This is a big credit to them.”