Esteban Guerrieri insisted that he did not consider losing out on the win in the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife as a lost opportunity, even though he had started from pole.
Guerrieri lost out to the Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz at the very start of the race, and the Honda driver was unable to get close enough to Michelisz for the next three laps to find a way past.
Indeed Guerrieri dropped back from the BRC Racing driver, ultimately having to settle for second and his fifth podium finish of the season.
The Münnich Motorsport driver congratulated Michelisz for the win and said that he was not disappointed, having extended his drivers’ championship lead to 27 points after team-mate Néstor Girolami was third.
“Congratulations to this man [Michelisz] beside me – he’s a good friend so I am happy for him and of course to Néstor, a great friend, we are doing a very good job with the team,” said Guerrieri.
“It’s not a disappointment. Of course, we don’t like to lose opportunities and probably this one wasn’t a lost opportunity but it’s racing.
“We probably did a more aggressive strategy before the start so hopefully solving this for tomorrow but Norbi did the start that he did, and when I went to close the door, he was already there.
“If I were to start on the inside it would probably be a different story but this is life.
“Like Norbi said, it was three qualifying laps, pushing really hard. I was in between pushing but not killing my fronts because when you are struggling here, you overheat the fronts and then you are done.
“We made a gap from third, so I knew it would be difficult to catch Norbi but at least try to keep close enough if there was any mistake or something, but he drove perfectly.
“I’m really happy with second place. The Honda worked very well, we are both here in the podium with Néstor, so we couldn’t ask for more. I’m happy with this result.”