» WTCR: Girolami kicks off 2020 season with victory

Néstor Girolami scored a convincing victory in Race 1 at the FIA WTCR Race of Belgium, the Argentine leading the reverse-grid Race 1 all the way at Zolder.

Girolami started from pole position in his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR and worked hard on Goodyear’s new WTCR tyres to keep ahead of Thed Björk, whose Cyan Performance Lynk & Co 03 TCR chased him throughout the 13 laps.

Hungarian Attila Tassi scored his first WTCR podium in third place for the ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Honda team.

“Congratulations to everyone in the team, they did a fantastic job in the long wait for this season to begin,” said Girolami, whose victory marks his fourth in WTCR. “To get a victory now is a good present for the mechanics. I’d like to dedicate this to my little baby and my wife.”

Björk, third on the grid, made a strong start to get ahead of front-row starter Jean-Karl Vernay, the Frenchman slipping back to fifth in his first WTCR start in Team Mulsanne’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR by Romeo Ferraris. Vernay would remain fifth at the flag, behind WTCR Trophy winner Tom Coronel, who achieved fourth place in his first race driving Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport’s Audi RS 3 LMS.

Björk said he was delighted to score a podium after the long delay to the season, in a race that showed an increase in lap times in the closing stages on the new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport tyres. “It is fantastic to be back in the car and racing, and to get a podium after the long pre-season. This track is hard on the cars and there was some oil that made it difficult.”

Tassi was equally pleased with his first WTCR podium finish. “I wasn’t expecting this,” he said. “My aim is to learn from my experienced teammates, so a 1-3 is a great result for the team.”

But there were dramas for the other Münnich Hondas. Esteban Guerrieri’s race ended on lap three in a cloud of smoke while he was running eighth, while Tiago Monteiro also retired in a similar fashion on lap eight. He was in P14 at the time.

Santiago Urrutia scored a strong sixth place for Cyan Performance on his WTCR debut in the Lynk & Co 03 TCR, ahead of Yann Ehrlacher’s Lynk & Co and the Frenchman’s uncle Yvan Muller.

WTCR Trophy contender Nathanaël Berthon, who starts Race 2 from pole position, was ninth in his Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS after a duel with teammate and top FIA Rookie Award runner Gilles Magnus.

Reigning WTCR champion Nobert Michelisz was the best of the Hyundais in his BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse entry in P11. The other points scorers were FIA Rookie Award entry Luca Engstler who was P12 in his Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR, Dutchman Nicky Catsburg for Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team Hyundai, 2018 WTCR title winner Gabriele Tarquini in P15 and Zengő Motorsport Cupra driver Mikel Azcona in P16.

Australian Dylan O’Keeffe finished thirteenth in his first WTCR start driving Vuković Motorsport’s Renault Mégane RS TCR, however is ineligible to earn championship points as a wildcard entry.

2020 FIA WTCR Race of Belgium – Race 1 Final Classification (13 laps)
	Driver	Team / Entry	Laps	Result
1.	Néstor Girolami	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	13	21:17.425
2.	Thed Björk	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	13	+ 1.127
3.	Attila Tassi	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	13	+ 1.844
4.	Tom Coronel	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	13	+ 2.072
5.	Jean-Karl Vernay	Team Mulsanne	13	+ 4.632
6.	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	13	+ 6.050
7.	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	13	+ 6.674
8.	Yvan Muller	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	13	+ 7.382
9.	Nathanaël Berthon	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	13	+ 7.794
10.	Gilles Magnus	Comtoyou Racing	13	+ 12.585
11.	Norbert Michelisz	BRC LUKOIL Squadra Corse	13	+ 15.513
12.	Luca Engstler	Engstler Liqui Moly Racing Team	13	+ 16.085
13.	Dylan O’Keeffe (WC)	Vuković Motorsport	13	+ 18.135
14.	Nicky Catsburg	Engstler Liqui Moly Racing Team	13	+ 21.572
15.	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC LUKOIL Squadra Corse	13	+ 23.527
16.	Mikel Azcona	Zengő Motorsport Services KFT	13	+ 25.323
17.	Bence Boldizs	Zengő Motorsport Services KFT	13	+ 31.621
18.	Luca Filippi (WC)	Team Mulsanne	13	+ 34.240
19.	Gábor Kismarty-Lechner	Zengő Motorsport Services KFT	13	+ 50.562
20.	Jack Young	Vuković Motorsport	12	+ 1 lap
	Not Classified	Team / Entry	Laps	Reason
DNF.	Tiago Monteiro	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	7	Engine
DNF.	Esteban Guerrieri	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	2	Engine

Championship Points:

The top fifteen classified finishers (excluding wildcard entries) and their respective teams are awarded championship points on a 25-20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 sliding scale.

Post-Race Penalties: