WestCoast Racing put on a strong display in Thailand, with Gianni Morbidelli fighting against overheating issues to secure his fifth podium result of the season in Race 1, moving up the drivers’ championship table, while Mikhail Grachev scored strong points on his way to second position in the Race 2.
Morbidelli made a good start in Race 1 to run in second position through most of the first race, before overheating issues caused the Italian to fall behind title rival James Nash in the latter stages of the race, but valiantly carried on to take the final spot on the podium.
“I must admit I was not as quick as the SEATs, so it was impossible to fight with them for the victory,” said Morbidelli. “I just made a mistake at Turn 3 and lost the rear of the car and went wide on that corner and James Nash overtook me there, after that the water temperature was high so I concentrated on not being in the tow behind them.”
In the second race, Mikhail Grachev, who had been hit by another competitor in the first race and had to pit to work on the damage, made the most of his pole position in the early phase of the race, but the handling issues from his Race 1 accident meant he was forced to settle for second in the final reckoning, but scored good points in the championship.
“Nothing was on plan since Race 1 as somebody hit me in Turn 2 after the start so my car was damaged,” said Grachev. “So I’d like to say thank you to WestCoast as they fixed most of the damage but still the car was not handling correctly.
“I think we did the best we could in this situation. I couldn’t do anything about James (Nash) as he was just faster in every corner because of my problem, so I decided to stay in second position and pick up the podium.”
Morbidelli meanwhile had his best start of the season and was up to fourth from ninth after half a lap, but a rare error at Turn 8 saw Morbidelli crash out with heavy damage to the front of the WestCoast Racing Honda Civic, which the team will work hard to repair for the next race in three weeks.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened but I lost the rear of the car and was out of control and had a big shunt, and that means a lot of work for the team, and I’m really sorry as we didn’t need that. Unfortunately, there’s a big job to do to repair the car. I apologise for this and to my team.”
Morbidelli’s podium sees him move up to fifth in the championship standings, and is still within contention for the Drivers’ title with three races remaining, while Grachev is fast closing on the pack ahead of him after another strong weekend for the team.
“Mikhail Grachev did well again,” said WestCoast Racing Team Manager James Nixon. “He didn’t have the perfect set-up and got a little bit of damage in Race 1. The guys got it as close as they could be he didn’t have the right set-up in Race 2 to compete with James (Nash), but at least could take second.
“Gianni had to come out of the tow everywhere, which is why he lost second place as he came out of it and onto the dirt and lost it in Turn 3, which was a bit unfortunate.”
The next round of the TCR International Series takes place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, supporting the Formula 1 World Championship on September 17th and 18th, with the first race run under the floodlights at night.