Photo: TCR Media

Gianni Morbidelli tackles 2017 with a new engineer, after losing his to Jason Plato

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WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli starts the year with the same team, but with a new car and engineer for the season, after the Swedish squad made the switch from Honda to Volkswagen after two years.

Morbidelli also has a new engineer, Sergi Borrull Mulero, who joins from WestCoast’s STCC programme last year, after the Italian’s previous engineer Paul Ridgway has been snapped up by Subaru Team BMR in the BTCC to engineer two-time champion Jason Plato.

“I had a very good relationship with Paul, it was very good to spend two years with him, but that doesn’t mean I won’t find the same feeling with Sergi,” said Morbidelli to TouringCarTimes. “In the beginning, it’s important to understand each other, just like at the start of any relationship.”

The team had a brief test at the Castellolí circuit in Spain ahead of the start of the season before yesterday’s test, in which Morbidelli was seventh fastest, just under four-tenths off the pace.

“We had a couple of days testing in Barcelona and we’re quite confident,” he said. “We have to take all the experience we’ve gained and try to move on from there. It’s important when you start a new season and especially with a new car that, it’s important to try and immediately be on the high level.

“I know WestCoast Racing very well, it’s like a family for me here, when you work in a team like this and have a team around you who you can also think of as friends, it makes things a lot easier.”

Morbidelli hopes that WestCoast Racing along with Volkswagen will be in a position to fight for the championship, just as the team were during the past two years, but doesn’t feel added pressure knowing the championship-winning potential of the car from last year, admitting that the Civic TCR was just as capable.

“I have to admit the Honda was a car that could have won the championship, but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough luck,” he explained.

“We started both seasons very well, and in the middle of the season we were leading the championship but then we started to have problems, so the hope and the wish is to have a different story this year.”