WestCoast Racing hardly had time to pause following the Belgian round of the TCR International Series as they travelled to Monza, Italy for round four of the championship this weekend (12 – 14 May, 2017).

The results so far this year have not been what the team – nor Gianni Morbidelli and Giacomo Altoe would have hoped for – and again at Monza, the team had the speed in the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, but were unable to make the most of it when it counted. This, combined with numerous on-track incidents, made for a disappointing Italian weekend.

“It’s fair to say that we’re having a tough start to the season,” said Team Manager James Nixon. “It appears the International series has some of the worst driving standards currently in any series I watch.

“Sadly, most of these incidents seem to go un noticed by the people that count! We were passed yet again more times off the track than on, but no positions given back. Maybe it’s better to have no rules but it’s not the kind of motorsport we want for the team. As a team we need to look at our options tomorrow and decide if we continue to support this philosophy of racing.”

Despite their best efforts, neither driver was able to make it into the top 12 in qualifying, just missing out with the 13th and 14th best times.

The first race saw Morbidelli boxed in at the start by a rival spinning at turn one, dropping him down the order. Altoe meanwhile was about to exit the race at turn three following contact at the first corner that broke the front right suspension.

Morbidelli battled on, chasing and then passing Mat’o Homola and working his way into tenth position. Contact with Dusan Borkovic, who turned Morbidelli sideways mid-race at the first chicane, lost the Italian two further positions and forced him to defend from those behind and finishing in 11th position.

Lining up 13th and 14th again for race two saw Morbidelli and Altoe both make gains off the start, the latter taking advantage of first corner incidents to vault ninth, with Morbidelli slotting in two positions behind.

The race settled down a little with both driver holding position before Altoe lost ground to run 12th, a position he would maintain to the chequered flag. Morbidelli meanwhile went off at turn one on lap eight as he battled for position, losing time and positions as he dropped to the tail of the field before retiring a few laps later.

The team have a pause ahead of the next round of the TCR International Series race which takes place at Salzburgring in Austria on 11 June.

After a combative pair of races in the TCR International Series at Spa Francorchamps this weekend (5-6 May, 2017), WestCoast Racing were left with a solitary tenth position and single championship point for Giacomo Altoe, despite the best efforts of the team and its drivers.

“Sometimes it goes like this in racing,” said Team Principal Dick Jönsson Wigroth. “If you can’t win on track at least we can have a good time with our partners from Ejendals who came along to support us and promote their new TEGERA Infinity brand. We move on and go again as always!”
 
The biggest field of 24 cars in the International series to date lined up at the Belgian F1 track, including a number of series debutants from the TCR Benelux championship, making the event and the racing exciting for the large crowd that had gathered to watch the series support the World Endurance Championship. Among them were guests from TEGERA Infinity, who had come along to support their brand that proudly adorned the team pair of Golf GTI TCR cars.

The Benelux championship and a number of the competitors had raced at the Belgian venue just the week before and this, combined with local knowledge, put the Swedish outfit, who had won last years corresponding event, on the backfoot from the start of the weekend.
 
One positive from the weekend was the race performance of Altoe, who racing hard to recover from a few racing setbacks to grab the final point in race two from a mid-race low point of 16th position.  The young Italian driver showed great battling spirit and a good degree of race-craft which bodes well for the rest of the International season.
 
“It was very tough,” said Altoe. “It was a crazy second race, I got boxed at the start- lost some places – got them back – and then made a small mistake and ended up back in 16th, so I suppose I am happy with tenth place. It’s my home race next week in Monza so I hope I can do better!”
 
There’s only a short pause before the TCR International Series is back on track at Monza, Italy next weekend for rounds seven and eight of the championship.

With points in each of opening four races of the TCR International Series in Georgia and Bahrain, WestCoast Racing head to Spa Francorchamps, supporting the World Endurance Championship, for the third round of the championship.

The Belgian event will see team host numerous guests from the European distributor network of main sponsor Ejendals.  WestCoast Racing’s guest will get to see the TEGERA Infinity branded Volkswagen Golf TCR cars in action on what the team hopes will be a strong weekend as they get to grips with the all-new for 2017 equipment.

Gianni Morbidelli and Giacomo Altoe are 12th and 13th in the drivers’ classification respectively, while the WestCoast Racing are eighth in the team’s standings with clear ambitions to move up the order.

“It’s fair to say that the opening two rounds of the championship were harder than we expected,” said Team Manager James Nixon. “We know we’re in a learning curve with the new car, but we really did hope that we would be closer to the sharp end.

“Even though we won here last year, Spa will be a new challenge in many respects. We believe we’ll make progress throughout practice and be in reasonable shape for qualifying. These races are very tough, but we have great confidence in the drivers and we’ll give them the very best machinery that we can.”

The TCR International weekend gets underway with two free practice sessions on Thursday, with qualifying and race one getting underway at 17.25 Friday. Race two is on Saturday at 11.35.

Rounds three and four of the 2017 TCR International Series took place at the Bahrain International Circuit this weekend (15-16 April, 2017) in support of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the second outing for WestCoast Racing and their pair of Tegera Infinity supported VW Golf TCRs.

Extreme temperatures welcomed the teams to the desert venue with air temperatures touching 40 degrees at times making conditions for teams and drivers extremely challenging and through practice and into qualifying the Swedish team worked hard to find a setup to suit track and conditions, whilst still getting to grips with the new Golfs.
 
The team lacked pace in qualifying with Gianni Morbidelli just making Q2, but the unfortunate Giacomo Altoe missing out after his quickest lap was deleted in error by race control, denying him a run in Q2 through no fault of his own.
 
Morbidelli’s progress into the second session of qualifying ultimately failing to deliver much benefit as the Italian had to settle for an 11th place grid spot for both races.
 
In both of the weekend’s races the team found that the cars had race pace to run with the competition but with the both cars qualifying down the field and amongst some other usually front running cars – such as champion Stefano Comini and Pepe Oriola – both drivers racing battles gave small reward.
 
Morbidelli fared best with two hard fought top 10 finishes and Altoe taking the final points in race one, but falling foul of an unfair clash with Oriola to force him out in race two.
 
Team Manager James Nixon: “I thought we raced well, the cars had good pace in the races and both drivers were in good battles and showed strong race craft. We are having to all learn the cars at the racetracks during a race weekend… Engineers, mechanics and drivers as we have had such limited testing time pre-season with the new VW Golf, but we are making progress and getting to grips with the machinery and we will continue the upward curve in Spa at the next round.”
 
Gianni Morbidelli in his third season with WestCoast Racing in the TCR International Series echoed Nixon’s sentiments: “For sure we want to go quicker, we are lacking some speed and are all working to find it, and we will, hopefully in time to maintain a title challenge this year. The car is very solid and I know the team can do a good job. Today I had some good racing with Comini and made a lot of places in race two, so there are some things to be positive about.”
 
Giacomo Altoe was very disappointed following his clash with Pepe Oriola: “In race two, I made a good start and was able to make a clean pass on Oriola. He came back strongly and ran into me forcing me out of the race, it was very unnecessary.”
 
The TCR Series now moves back to Europe and Spa Francorchamps for races five and six on 5-6 May, when it shares the billing with the FIA World Endurance Championship at the famous Belgian Racetrack.

WestCoast Racing are all set for the second round of the TCR International Series that takes place this weekend (14-16 April, 2017) as a support to the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. The team has an impressive record when the Grand Prix circus is in town, having won at both Singapore and Malaysia Grand Prix support races last year. Naturally WestCoast Racing are now targeting a victory at Bahrain International Circuit.

It’s been a fresh start for the team this year, with a switch to a pair of TEGERA Infinity liveried Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR cars as well as new recruit Giancomo Altoè joining Gianni Morbidelli. Last time out in Georgia, the team secured double points finishes in both races, something the team are looking to build on this weekend in Bahrain.

“The first race of the year was a bit of a learning curve for us all – the teams and drivers – to be honest,” said Team Manager James Nixon.  “We showed good pace in some of the sessions, but the wet races were completely new for us in the Golf. Whilst we can’t test between the races, the team has been busy analysing the data and that should help us move up through the field.

“Being a Grand Prix event, this is obviously a big race for us and our partners. Last year the team enjoyed a spell at the front of the field and we know we have two great drivers in Gianni and Giancomo; they’re both willing to work hard to accelerate our programme and that will give us the best chance of scoring solid points in both races.

“We’ve got 13 points on the board already and I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t add significantly to that tally this weekend.”

The first 10-lap race of the weekend takes place between the F1 third practice and qualifying at 16.30 local time on Saturday, while Sunday’s race is at 13.00, immediately before the second F2 event.