Arkiv: TCR Europe

We wrap up the 2019 season and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

NewsPorsche Carrera Cup ScandinaviaTCR Europe

The end of 2019 is approaching and it is time for WestCoast Racing to sum up a season of challenges but it also shed some light to the future.

Back in January it was presented that WestCoast Racing would, for the first time since 2010, run a car in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia series. This was in collaboration with Porsche Center Örebro and with Hugo Nerman as the driver. Teaming up with Norwegian Roar Lindland, they both defended the WestCoast Racing colors in the competitive Scandinavian championship.
Over the season, the team collected several podium places where Roar’s victory in the midnight sun at Drive Center Arena in Fjällfors presented the best result of the year.

Hugo Nerman, who dominated the Formula Nordic 2017 championship driving for the Ward WestCoast Junior Racing Team, made his debut season in the Porsche Carrera Cup in 2019 and have revealed an inspiring development over the season:
“Hugo made the leap to Porsche in 2019 and has done well. The series competitors has a lot of experience, so it requires a lot to fight for the podium positions. Does he continue to develop in the same way, Hugo can become the next big name in the Porsche Carrera Cup”, Team Manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth says about Hugo’s efforts.

Roar Lindland is an experienced driver in the Porsche context and has delivered solid results with five podium places in 2019, of which one victory:
”Roar is one of the series veterans and has delivered the best result in 2019 for WestCoast Racing. He has also provided a good reference where we stand against the competition”, Dick sums up the season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia.

The main goal for the team for 2019 was to again compete internationally in TCR Europe with two Volkswagen´s and with new sponsors in Guide and Teng Tools. The last time WestCoast Racing made a full-scale investment in an international series was in TCR International 2015-2017. Just as then, the experienced Italian Gianni Morbidelli were driving one of the WestCoast Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR´s. In the second car, Finnish driver Olli Kangas made his debut season – both in the team at this level of racing.

Already during the initial races it was evident that the team lacked the important tools to find the speed in qualifying and be able to fight for the top positions. Despite this, Gianni Morbidelli provided several admirable drives in the Golf from the series midfield.
Outstanding performances was the qualification at Oschersleben and three 5th places during the year. In a historical WestCoast Racing perspective, the results were not in line with expectations, but can nevertheless stand as an example of this year’s difficulties to compete.

Dick Jönsson Wigroth still highly regards his TCR driver after a tough season:
“Gianni did some of his best races for WestCoast Racing this year. He has shown he is a true professional and kept fighting throughout the season, and together with the team they never gave up. During the later half of the season we were the fastest Golf, and Gianni often found more speed in the car than we thought possible. This was clearly illustrated in the season finale at Monza where he was competitive, both in qualifying and the races, even though the fast track did not suit us at all.”

Olli Kangas had his highlight at Spa-Francorchamps. But as a whole he did not get the season that Dick and the team had wanted, lined with several technical problems:
“He did not have the luck on his side, facing several issues at the wrong time. Without these, we could have achieved more good race results during his debut year in TCR Europe.”

At this time, Team Manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth wants to take the opportunity to thank the entire team who worked intensively throughout the season in both series. WestCoast Racing would also like to thank its supporters and sponsors for the 2019 season.
Witch challenges the team will face during the 2020 season, we will come back to – but WestCoast Racing will always compete to win!

Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from WestCoast Racing!

WestCoast Racing realistic ahead of Monza-weekend

NyheterTCR Europe

The final race of the season is taking off this weekend with the TCR Europe finale at Monza in Italy. WestCoast Racing heads to the famous and historic high-speed track outside Milan with realistic expectations of its chances.

WestCoast Racing hoped to repeat its podium from last year at the previous round, the penultimate race weekend in Barcelona, but had to see the chances of that disappear already in qualifying. Ahead of Monza team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth is realistic about the teams chances this weekend which will conclude a tough season for the team in TCR Europe.
”We are very realistic about our chances coming here”, Dick says. ”We are missing the necessary top speed needed for this track which was already evident in Barcelona so we know we are in for a tough weekend. This is not a track that suits our car very well and this has been a tough season for us. WestCoast Racing is all about being competitive and winning and it has been difficult to accept that has not been on the cards for us this year. We have done everything possible with the material we have had but it has not been enough. But we don’t give up, we know we are up against it this weekend but we will do one final push and finish this season as good as we can.

The final weekend of TCR Europe kicks off at Monza on Friday with free practice 1 & 2 followed by qualifying and race 1 on Saturday with the final race of the season on Sunday. Races are streamed lived on TCR TV on Facebook and Youtube.

Schedule – TCR Europe, Monza: 

Friday October 11:

12:25 – Free practice 1
16:20 – Free practice 2

Saturday October 12:

10:45 – Qualifying
16:50 – Race 1

Sunday October 13:

11:35 – Race 2

Tough weekend at Barcelona for WestCoast Racing

NewsTCR Europe

Qualifying once again set the tone for WestCoast Racing’s chances as lowly qualifying positions made for two challenging races at the Barcelona circuit. The high-light was Gianni Morbidellis charge from 21st to 10th in the first race followed by another charge up to 13th position in the second race bagging some points in the process.

Qualifying was tricky for many teams as heavy showers hit the track in the morning leaving teams and drivers to fight on a drying track as qualifying progressed. A lot of drivers were caught out including the WestCoast Racing pair with Gianni Morbidelli ending up 21st and Olli Kangas 23rd on the grid for the two races.

While Gianni Morbidelli made use of all the racing pace in the WestCoast Racing VW Golf GTI TCR to climb up to 10th place, team mate Olli Kangas got tangled up in the first corner and had to retire the car. In the second race Morbidelli finished 13th again starting from 21st position while Olli Kangas finished 21nd.
”Obviously not the results we came here for,” summarized team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth afterwards. ”We as many others were caught out by the drying conditions in qualifying and made life very difficult for ourselves in the races. Olli was unfortunate in the first race but Gianni could show we had some genuine race pace in the cars. We put this weekend behind us now and recharge for the season finale at Monza and a final chance to fight for the podium spots.”

TCR Europe concludes the 2019 season at Monza in Italy in three weeks time, on the weekend of 12-13th of October.

Results from TCR Europe penultimate round at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona

 

WestCoast Racing aims for podium in Barcelona

NewsTCR Europe

The penultimate round of TCR Europe is coming up this weekend and WestCoast Racing turns to Barcelona aiming to repeat its podium there from last year.

This season has not promised the results the squad has been hoping for with Gianni Morbidelli 14th and Olli Kangas 25th in the championship. However the team has seen an improved performance during the second half of the season it now hopes to convert into podium spots in the final rounds of the season.
”The results has neither been close to what we have been hoping for or an absolutely true reflection of the potential in the team, our cars and drivers,” team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth explains. ”We have lacked some qualifying speed which has hurt our chances on the races badly. On race pace we feel we are up there but we just haven’t managed to capitalise on it. As we are returning to Barcelona we are aiming for the podium Unfortunately the Balance of Performance also works a bit against us since we have to push really hard just to advance for Q1 leaving less in reserve in Q2 than other teams. However we do feel we have improved a lot during the last couple of rounds and are pushing hard to finish off strongly.”

The race weekend at Barcelona starts with free practice on Friday followed bu qualifying and race 1 on Saturday and the final race of the weekend on Sunday.

Time schedule – TCR Europe, Barcelona: 

Friday September 20th:

Free practice 1: 13:15
Free practice 2: 18:05

Saturday September 21st:

Qualifying: 11:40
Race 1: 17:45

Sunday September 22nd:

Race 2: 12:30

Tough weekend with glimpses of hope at Oschersleben

NewsTCR Europe

WestCoast Racing endured another tough weekend when TCR Europe visited Oschersleben in Germany, albeith with glimpses of hope as Gianni Morbidelli put the car third fastest in Q1 and scored another fifth place in the first race.

WestCoast Racing arrived at Oschersleben with hopes of a good result after Gianni Morbidelli scored a season best fifth place in the previous round. After a monster lap in Q1 which saw Morbidelli third fastest hopes were on for a podium position. However the monster lap by Morbidelli lead to a broken radiator which stoped him from continue in Q2 thus making him start in eleventh position. From there he managed to climb back up to another fifth position with team mate Olli Kangas scoring a 13th position from 23rd on the grid. This was to be the highlight of the weekend with both cars retiring in the second race.

Team manager Dick Jönsson Wigroth ponders what might have been as he looks ahead to the final two rounds in the championship.
”I don’t think any other driver would be able to drive the kind of lap Gianni did in Q1,” Dick says. ”That was just something extraordinary. Unfortunately it led to a broken radiator but with the current BoP which is based on results in Q1 this is how hard we have to push just to advance from Q1. We take the positives with us to the next round at Barcelona, we scored another fifth position and Olli Kangas also finished in the points in the first race.”

TCR Europe now takes another break before it continues at Barcelona and the Circuit of Catalunya on September 21-22.

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