Néstor Girolami set to make WTCC debut later this year

Reigning Super TC 2000 champion Néstor Girolami is likely to make his WTCC debut later this season following a successful test with Lada Sport Rosneft last week, and is being considered as a possible driver at the Russian manufacturer themselves to take the fight to Citroën and José María López in 2016.

Girolami was in the paddock two weeks’ ago at the Hungaroring and took part in the test along with current drivers Rob Huff and Jaap van Lagen two days later. The Argentinian impressed the championship organisers as well as Lada Sport Rosneft boss Viktor Shapovalov, and is set to join the grid later this season with a privateer team for some selected rounds which don’t clash with his Super TC 2000 commitments.

“I said that these new TC1 regulations will put the driver market completely upside down,” said WTCC General Manager Francois Ribeiro, the architect of Girolami’s invitation in Hungary. “The young generation is going to give a really hard time to the (Gabriele) Tarquinis, the (Yvan) Mullers and the (James) Thompsons and so-on. I was the one going to Viktor at the Hungaroring to ask him what Thompson is bringing to your team, to tell me what that is, because maybe I am the blind one but I don’t think so.”

Eurosport Events arranged for Girolami to take part in the test following the race weekend, and says the test was so successful that Lada could already make a play for the 25-year-old to join the WTCC next year.

“I proposed to Viktor to test Girolami, (I said) I’ll fly him down and put him in the car and you will see, and Viktor called me after the test and said I’m ready to sign him immediately for 2016. That young guy is also of the simulator generation of López, and felt immediately comfortable with TC1, (as in Super TC 2000 he drives with) the same power, the same weight, more or less same downforce, front-wheel drive, he’s also super professional and super committed.

“(When) I called him it was 7pm Thursday evening in Argentina, and I asked him if he could be in the Hungaroring on Tuesday evening, he said give me ten minutes, he called me back and he’d cancelled his race in Top Race that weekend, and he’s ready to invest his own money to hire a private car and do some races this year, that’s what I call commitment and I was not surprised when Viktor called me after the test.”

Lada Sport team principal Viktor Shapovalov admitted he was impressed with Girolami’s performance, and that he’s under consideration for the future of Lada’s programme, with van Lagen set to drive for the team this weekend and at the team’s home race in Moscow.

“Today we don’t have the final plan,” said Shapovalov to TouringCarTimes. “Sometimes Eurosport has some ideas and some news that travels quite quickly. We plan to keep Jaap for Moscow, we’ll have additional testing before Moscow at Magny-Cours, and we’re looking for future solutions on how to develop the team for sure and we’re looking for different solutions with drivers and engineers, so we’ll see after we’ve gone testing.”

With Ribeiro alluding to Thompson’s departure from the team abruptly after qualifying was more performance related than for the medical reasons given at the time, Shapovalov wouldn’t rule out the two-time BTCC champions future programme with was in doubt, but that he could still be back later in the year.

“It’s not 100%,” he said. “Today, I don’t have a final plan so I can’t say what the situation is with James. I don’t have the information on how he feels and easily he feels he can drive at the same level of Rob (Huff) so I’ll wait.”

Speaking about Girolami, Shapolalov added: “(He) was a real surprise to me. His level of professionalism is very high for such a young guy, with how he works with the engineers, everything he did was optimum even though this was just a test. He’s fast for sure and a nice person, and to have him in the team could be a good thing and the team would be strong, but he’s only available from next year, so this is a long time away.”

Shapovalov ruled out running the Argentinian later this season. “If we change something in the team, I want to keep it for the rest of the season and not change drivers every race as this is not the best for the team and our results,” he explained.

With Girolami’s contractual situation with Peugeot likely to rule him out from competing with another manufacturer this year, this means that any appearances will be with one of the independent teams with available cars.