Esteban Guerrieri gracious about latest title defeat as GOAT Racing impress in 2024

Esteban Guerrieri took a pragmatic view on his latest championship defeat as the Argentinian fell out of FIA TCR World Tour contention on a difficult day at the Macau season-finale.

Guerrieri arrived at the final round of the season holding second in the World Tour standings, hoping to upset points leader Norbert Michelisz after impressing massively in the first year for the new GOAT Racing squad.

Things quickly took a turn for the worse for the Spanish team in Macau, however, with the Honda outfit struggling for pace in qualifying and also suffering a heavy crash for Marco Butti as well as a grid penalty for Duŝan Borković.

While Guerrieri’s main title rivals instead locked out the front few rows in qualifying, taking the maximum points on offer by doing so, it all deteriorated even further for GOAT Racing and its star driver in Saturday’s opening race.

Guerrieri went for a late dive down the inside of Lynk & Co Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher into Lisboa Bend on the opening lap, forcing both drivers wide on the exit, and then veered immediately right to cover off the inside line for the subsequent corner – rejoining straight into the path of team-mate Butti.

The pair collided, with Guerrieri pitched into a spin that triggered a massive pile-up and completely blocked the track. The race was red-flagged and both Guerrieri and Butti failed to take the restart.

As main title rivals Thed Björk and Michelisz went on to finish first and second, it meant the end to Guerrieri’s championship hopes.

“Overall it’s been quite an intense weekend,” Guerrieri told TouringCarTimes. “Our potential in qualifying was not where we expected it to be, so I knew I had to be aggressive to overtake Ehrlacher and (Néstor) Girolami. I had a clear strategy and that was to make a cut down the inside at Lisboa on the first lap. I just missed (the braking point) by five meters, but I needed to do it there; I knew it would be a lot more difficult to pass later in the race.

“So no regrets on that. Then the outcome of all this was that Marco (Butti) was on the inside and I went to close the line, but I think he didn’t back off in time to let me by and it was just a very unfortunate situation.

“I did see that he was there but I didn’t know how far up he was and it all happened in a split second.”

Adding insult to injury, Guerrieri was later penalised for the incident with his team-mate and will drop three spots on the grid for the final race on Sunday. He also received two penalty points on his license.

2024 marks the latest chapter in Guerrieri’s CV of significant success mixed with frustrating near-misses. The versatile 39-year-old has finished runner-up in championships including Argentina’s Super TC 2000, Indy Lights (twice) and the World Touring Car Cup in 2019 – but has not won a title since 2003 in Formula Renault.

Guerrieri took his latest defeat with grace, however, pointing to the impressive performances achieved with GOAT Racing in the team’s first year in existence.

“Motorsport is my passion. I get to experience a lot, I meet great people and we work hard together. This is what I take to my life,” Guerrieri said to TouringCarTimes.

“We came here to the last race fighting for the title, which was a lot more than we could have expected in the first season for the team. Only in March we were putting all the pieces together. Of course it’s a bitter flavour at the moment, but if you see the whole picture, it was a great season together.

“The final vision can be the big trophy, but the real nice story happens with the process. I am very proud that we share all these moments together and I will keep it for the rest of my life.”

Guerrieri also confirmed his willingness to continue with the Spanish squad, led by Pepe Oriola, into a second season in 2025 but said a deal is not yet in place.

“We are in talks. I would like to keep going, and from their part as well. We need to sit down and get together, but it would be great to keep growing as a team, as a structure. It would be my priority number one.”