After their form in the pre-season test that took place in Barcelona at the end of March, Honda Racing Customer teams Münnich Motorsport and KCMG backed this up with race winning pace in Marrakech.
With the first three races of the 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) taking place in Morocco, the Münnich Motorsport pair of Esteban Guerrieri and Nestor Girolami got down to business straight away.
Girolami was elated with his podium in the first race of the season. Credit: Florent Gooden / DPPI
Guerrieri sealed pole position for race one before going on to win the first race of the year whilst Girolami joined his Argentine team-mate on the podium by securing third place. Races two and three saw Guerrieri take a pair of fourth places as Girolami fought to finish in tenth and sixth places respectively.
At KCMG, Tiago Monteiro showed that he had adapted well to the Honda Civic Type R TCR by staying inside the top five during Free Practice and then setting times that put him inside the top five during both Qualifying sessions.
With eighth position for race one and fourth place in the Q3 pole-position shoot-out his reward whilst young team-mate, Attila Tassi struggled to adapt to the Circuit Moulay El Hassan, qualifying last for race one and then improving to twenty-first for races two and three.
Monteiro was always in the frame for points during the WTCR weekend in Morocco. Credit: Frederic Le Floc’h / DPPI
Monteiro took some good points away by finishing in sixth and eighth places respectively for races one and two whilst contact in race three saw him retire on the spot. Tassi managed to finish race one in nineteenth place before ending the second race in twentieth spot.
The young Hungarian driver improved the most in race three where he started from twenty-first and would finish in eleventh place, taking his first points of the year.
With all four drivers scoring points over the weekend, Guerrieri lies in second place in the driver’s championship with Girolami not far behind in fourth place. Montiero lies in ninth place in the standings whilst Tassi has a big chance to improve next time out as WTCR heads to his home race on the Hungaroring circuit.
