Esteban Guerrieri says patience was key to scoring victory on his World Touring Car Championship debut in Marrakech.
Guerrieri, running in the Campos Racing-run Chevrolet Cruze, noticed Tom Coronel’s Cruze was suffering with poor balance and braking as rising temperatures in Morocco made finding clean air essential.
In light of the issues, he chose to wait behind the ROAL Motorsport driver in the opening stages.
“I saw Tom [Coronel] locking up the rears quite a bit, it looked like he was having a bit of trouble with the brakes and his balance so I waited. I pressured a little bit but also my car was losing brakes, losing performance, but apparently less than his. I’m sorry for Tom, he’s a great guy, but this is racing.”
Coronel ran straight on at the gradual left-hander of turn three at half distance, a lap after reporting braking problems over the radio, handing Guerrieri the lead.
He would defend comfortably from Thed Bjork’s Volvo and the Citroen C-Elysee of home hero Medhi Bennani to take victory on his series debut.
He paid tribute to Campos Racing for making the result possible after they secured a late deal to join the field.
“Thank you to all of Team Campos who made it possible. We just made the deal to be here a couple of weeks ago and now we’re winning the first race, so it’s an incredible feeling. Now we’ll prepare for the second race but we have the first one in our pocket.”