WestCoast Racing showed resilience during a hugely frustrating weekend at Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo, Gianni Morbidelli salvaging a podium finish while carrying an enforced weight penalty during Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2015 TCR International Series (1-3 May).
The Swedish team worked efficiently through an extensive programme during an exclusive TCR test on Friday (1 May) in a bid to resolve new-car mechanical and setup issues identified during the first two rounds of the season in Asia.
WestCoast’s trio – Morbidelli, Kevin Gleason and Igor Skuz – all reported positive results and were satisfied to have completed far more laps than their SEAT, Audi and Opel counterparts, but there was still a great deal of fettling to be done.
Morbidelli was mired by the 30kgs of success ballast carried over from his race win in China, while all three WestCoast drivers carted an additional 35kgs from a pre-Valencia shift in the championship’s Balance of Performance (BoP).
A typically dedicated overnight effort to perfect the team’s Honda Civic TCRs took WestCoast Racing’s mechanics into the early hours of Saturday (2 May).
It was hoped that unquestionable commitment, unmatched by other teams in the TCR paddock, would go some way to negating the effects of the weight increase, while ironing out the usual new-car teething problems and ultimately giving the drivers a leg up onto the winners’ rostrum.
Sadly, no amount of preparation could have prevented the engine issue that surfaced on Morbidelli’s car following Saturday’s free practice sessions, but WestCoast Racing remained calm in the face of adversity and fixed the problem with only seconds to spare before the pit lane opened for qualifying.
America’s Gleason starred in Q1 by taking provisional pole, only for technical issues to curtail his Q2 session and prevent him from challenging the SEATs on their home turf.
Skuz, meanwhile, pushed the boundaries and survived a hair-raising trip across the gravel to end up 15th, a few places behind a disappointed Gleason in 12th, although Morbidelli in tenth could take some consolation from securing the reversed grid pole position for Sunday’s second race – Round 6.
Another late night of preparation followed for WestCoast Racing, but expectations were low, tempered by the fact that the weight imposed on the team’s Honda Civics would likely leave them exposed in Sunday’s (3 May) races.
Slow starts in the first encounter caused Morbidelli, Gleason and Skuz to tumble down the order on the opening lap, although all three were quick to make amends with some gritty and determined driving.
Italian racer Morbidelli was initially tasked with fending off Bas Schouten, but soon switched to attack mode, ascending the leaderboard to receive the chequered flag in a solid eighth place.
Gleason also made headway from the back of the field to finish 11th, passing his hard-charging teammate Skuz at mid-distance as an electrical problem brought the Ukrainian to a temporary halt and resigned him to 15th at the finish.
That the Honda contingent was as much as eight tenths of a second per lap slower than most of the competition in Round 5 was telling and there was little hope that Morbidelli would have the performance to translate his reversed grid pole into a race victory in Round 6.
However, the final race of the weekend would be a controversial affair. Morbidelli sustained front-end damage in an opening-lap collision, but, after pitting with a punctured right-front tyre, pulled off a remarkable recovery drive to land third position in the final classification.
The ex-Formula 1 racer from Pesaro, Italy drove a determined race and crossed the line directly ahead of teammate Gleason, who nursed his ailing car home in fourth, both ultimately benefiting from the penalties handed to several drivers for overtaking under Safety Car conditions, while Skuz was sidelined with mechanical troubles.
“Friday’s test gave WestCoast Racing the opportunity to improve, but we were heavily penalised by the extra weight imposed on us by the Balance of Performance,” said Morbidelli. “It has been a strange weekend and I’m unhappy, but I have to thank my team for doing such an incredible job once again – the mechanics and my engineer work very hard, constantly pushing for performance, but we had no chance with the weight penalty. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in Portugal.”
WestCoast Racing Team Principal, Greger Petersson, said: “The BoP ‘correction’ and the extra weight we carry due to the sequential gearbox clearly swung the balance a bit too far in favour of the other brands involved in the TCR International Series – the SEAT domination in the races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo demonstrates that. We had no chance of competing, even if Gianni (Morbidelli) hadn’t been involved in the first-lap collision. Nevertheless, we’re looking forward to a new weekend at a new playground in Portimao and we will remain positive. We certainly have some homework to do with regards to reliability, but this weekend was a good demonstration of damage control.”
For more information on WestCoast Racing, please visit the officialwww.westcoastracing.se website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page and follow@WestCoast Racing on Twitter.