Gianni Morbidelli took an incredible double victory in the TCR International Series at the Oschersleben track in Germany Sunday (9 July, 2017) to claim the WestCoast Racing’s first wins of the 2017 season and to haul the Italian into an unlikely late push for the Championship.
“What a drive,” said team manager James Nixon. “The team has never given up and all the hard work has started to pay off, together with the continued support of Volkswagen Motorsport we are starting to succeed. I don’t think Gianni has enjoyed driving so much for a long time and it’s a fantastic team and driver effort. I’m very disappointed for Giacomo as it could have been a different story without the big crash in the start of race two.”
The first race lights to flag victory from a well-deserved pole position was a long overdue result for Morbidelli and the team who have been battling all season to get to grips with the TCR Volkswagen Golf and signals the start of what is hoped to be a strong conclusion to the season for the Swedish team and their partners.
The teams second driver Giacomo Altoe also benefitted from the cars increased performance with his season best fifth place in the opening race.
Race two was simply a sensational performance from the team, starting tenth the Italian made the most of a start line pile up to find a large gap between him and the leaders on the reformed grid after a red flag that unfortunately claimed teammate Altoe an innocent bystander in a multi car incident.
Morbidelli took his chances so well, first passing, Lloyd, then onto Championship contender Vernay before an amazing last lap pass on the Opel of Homola to claim the second win in a perfect 55-point haul from the stunning weekend.
“I am really happy with this perfect result for me and the team and it has come at the right time,” said Morbidelli. “We have suffered a lot this season so it feels great to get this win. It’s a good feeling, its perfect. I have to say I am really proud of the team and myself, this result was incredible for us.”
For the team, the result was a fantastic reward after a season-long battle to extract the performance from the package.
“What great reward for the hard work and effort that we have put in,” said Team Principal Dick Jönsson Wigroth. “At no point this year have the guys stopped pushing forward and despite many struggles this really is a great reward for everyone involved.
“The testing we did has given us an insight into the car and it was nice to see the results of this and it was particularly satisfying to be the quickest Volkswagen team as well as quickest overall. This feels like the start of our season now and let’s hope we can continue in this vein.”
WestCoast Racing will be back out in the next round of the championship seeking to build on the success of this weekend at Chang International Circuit in Thailand 2-3 September.