Nestor Girolami winner of the first Zolder race

The joy is palpable in the Honda – Münnich Motorsport clan at the finish of this first race of the 2020 WTCR, contested on the Belgian circuit of Zolder.

Starting from pole position, Nestor Girolami controlled the 13 laps on the menu this Sunday morning to win without much difficulty ahead of Thed Björk (Lynk&Co 03 – Cyan Performance) and Attila Tassi (Honda Civic – Münnich Motorsport), who completed the good performance of the Hondas.

But if these two drivers offered a convincing result to the Japanese brand, both Esteban Guerrieri and Tiago Monteiro saw their hopes go up in smoke on the 3rd and 11th laps, visibly due to engine failure in both cases.

In the French clan, Jean-Karl Vernay (Alfa Romeo – Team Mulsanne) was unable to take advantage of his second place on the grid, Björk, Tassi and Tom Coronel (Audi RS 3 – Team Comtoyou Audi Sport) getting the better of the French driver at the start of the race.

Vernay finished as the best Frenchman in 5th position and preceded Santi Urrutia (Lynk&Co 03 – Cyan Performance), Yann Ehrlacher and Yvan Muller (Lynk&Co 03 – Cyan Racing) and Nathanaël Berthon (Audi RS 3 – Team Comtoyou Audi Sport). Gilles Magnus (Audi RS 3 – Comtoyou Racing) took 10th place.

Nathanaël Berthon will start in pole position for the second race later at 14:15 p.m.