Gianni Morbidelli worried after ‘not very useful’ session

Despite coming second in his WestCoast Racing Honda Civic TCR, Gianni Morbidelli is not happy with the way free practice went, as the tricky track conditions at Estoril meant he could not start working on the setup.

“The conditions, with the track half wet and half dry, did not mean anything,” explained the Italian. “Not a very useful session, I must say. It’s a pity, because I could not even start to understand the set-up of the car.”

With several teams having tested on Wednesday at Estoril, the Honda driver is now concerned he will not have enough time to make up for the ground lost with effectively only one free practice session available to work on the setup: “It’s worrying for the rest of the weekend, because most rivals had the Wednesday test to work, and now they have quite a big advantage.”

Morbidelli scored a podium in the season opener in Bahrain and is now fifth in the championship, 25 points shy of championship leader Pepe Oriola.