Néstor Girolami shows pace despite spending practice “solving problems”

Néstor Girolami did not embark on a flying lap until the final two minutes in practice one for TCR World Tour’s Algarve opener, but he still went fourth fastest.

The 2022 World Touring Car Cup runner-up has made a team switch this year, leaving Münnich Motorsport for small Estonian outfit ALM Motorsport but staying in a Honda as he helps develop the brand’s new FL5 version of the Civic Type R TCR.

As such, he spent the majority of Friday morning’s practice session doing shakedown work rather than checking his pace against the opposition.

“No strategy at all,” Girolami said to TouringCarTimes when asked why he had left it so late to lap at a representative pace.

“We are so focused on solving problems at the moment; electronic issues and like normal problems of the new car. And also bedding in parts, because we were quite also late doing that, and we need to prepare like this some parts for the weekend. So at the beginning my times were very bad, solving problems, then at the end with fresh tyres – because we didn’t use them at the beginning – we had a very good pace. But nothing that I can say we are planning some strategies.”

Girolami was 0.348 seconds off the pace, which was set by Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch in an Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR. Had he been able to set a flying lap earlier, was a better laptime possible by the end of the morning session?

“I don’t think so, because we were testing here and we have already an idea on what we can deliver,” he said. “And I think this time, at this moment with the track temperature we are having, it’s a very good laptime.

“We are there, we are not far from the others, and I think we can fight. It’s difficult to know how much the others have in the pocket, but in our case we showed that even yesterday [in pre-event testing] I was P1, very, very, very close. So from the Audis we are so close. I think Lynk & Co and Hyundai maybe this is not a clear understanding at the moment how fast they are.”

Mikel Azcona was 0.252s off the top in the fastest of the Hyundais, while touring car rookie Viktor Andersson was Lynk & Co’s fastest driver in sixth place and 0.786s away from the top.

More experienced in touring cars – but not at this level – is ALM Motorsport, and Girolami is impressed by his time with them so far.

“Everything is new for them, so we are building up the weekend together and we are getting to know each other better every session. So I think it’s good. We have started in a good mood, and the vibe here is so nice.

“They are really motivated, it’s the first time for them in the World Tour, so something special, and I think they show they are a really capable team and very professional team. That I was surprised when I saw how they operate during yesterday’s [pre-event testing], so I’m very proud of them.”

Girolami’s brother Franco, the 2022 TCR Europe champion, has not secured a race drive for this year but this weekend is working with the Comtoyou Racing team he drove for last year.