Honda’s Tiago Monteiro began the 2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship season in style with a record-breaking qualifying best at WTCC AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco today.

At the start of the most open WTCC season for almost a decade, the Portuguese lapped the 2.971-kilometre Circuit Moulay El Hassan in a new qualifying lap record time of 1m21.792s. It bettered José María López’s previous 1m22.024s standard and earned the Portuguese the DHL Pole Position Award for the fourth time in his career and the coveted top spot for Sunday’s Main Race, which is longer and offers more points than before.

“As they say in Japan ichiban,” said Monteiro. “It’s really what we needed after all the hard work over the winter. We’ve said that many times already but it was important to show it now and show the progress is real. It was a matter of doing a nice, clean lap and pushing as much as we could but without any mistakes so I was happy with my lap.”

Néstor Girolami, driving a Volvo S60 Polestar, was beaten into second place by 0.239s, with Monteiro’s factory Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz completing the top three. Rob Huff claimed the WTCC Trophy pole in fourth overall with local hero Mehdi Bennani just behind after making it through to Q3 with a last-gasp effort in the middle phase of qualifying on the streets of Marrakech.

Nicky Catsburg’s efforts to reach Q3 were hampered by an early spin into a tyre barrier, which damaged his Volvo’s bumper. He took sixth, however, followed by Polestar Cyan Racing team-mate Thed Björk and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton. Honda’s Ryo Michigami and top rookie Yann Ehrlacher were P9 and P10 after Q2 but both had their qualifying times removed after they mistakenly failed to stop at compulsory weight checks. It means Tom Coronel and Esteban Guerrieri will occupy the front row of the grid for the Opening Race, putting Coronel on course to repeat his triumph from 2016.

Zengő Motorsport youngsters Daniel Nagy and Aurelien Panis were both unable to progress from Q1. Nagy was heading for Q2 only to be pipped by Coronel’s last-gasp effort to snatch what, at the time, was the all-important P12, while Panis – whose preparations were hampered when a technical fault prevented him from taking part in Free Practice 1 – ended up P14, one place behind Sébastien Loeb Racing’s new recruit John Filippi. However, post-qualifying technical checks found Panis’s Honda to be underweight and his times were deleted as a result.

Sunday’s action begins with the 18-lap Opening Race at 16h35 followed by the Main Race at 17h45 over a distance of 21 laps.

Eight drivers have been earmarked as genuine contenders for the prestigious FIA world crown as one of the most unpredictable WTCC seasons for nearly a decade prepares for lift-off at WTCC AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco in April.

Rob Huff, WTCC champion in 2012, will drive a privateer Citroën for ALL-INKL.COM Munnich Motorsport. He said: “WTCC 2017 will see the closest competition we have seen for many years with many drivers, teams and manufacturers able to fight for race wins in the overall championship.”

Tiago Monteiro, who finished third in the 2016 points, said: “The championship looks very promising but we know it’s not going to be easy this year. The Volvo guys are very strong and getting stronger and we still have four Citroëns on the grid, so we’re going to have to fine-tune every single detail to be as strong as possible. It will be a big fight.”

Monteiro’s factory Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz, who is starting his second season as a factory driver after twice winning the WTCC Trophy, said: “I strongly believe there can be six to eight drivers fighting for the championship to the end.”

Thed Björk scored his maiden victory in 2016, which was also the first WTCC triumph for Volvo and the Polestar Cyan Racing team. He has high hopes for the year ahead. “The fact that so many drivers can win the championship shows we have really good drivers in the WTCC, so that’s great and I’m really excited.”

New Polestar Cyan Racing recruit Néstor Girolami, a double touring car champion in Argentina, said: “The championship will be the most unpredictable in years. Nobody knows who will win this year. I will fight with the Honda guys and the guys in the Citroëns will push hard.”

Other drivers set to challenge for WTCC title glory in 2017 include Mehdi Bennani, Nicky Catsburg and Tom Chilton.

François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the WTCC promoter, said: “Any promoter would be happy to get eight or nine drivers genuinely going for the world title. Like many other world or international championships in 2017, the WTCC’s entry list is down slightly in terms of numbers but certainly not in terms of quality and it looks like we have the right spread of forces for a very good season. The fans will be looking for a good fight and for the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championship titles to go to the final night race in Qatar, and that’s what we hope we can provide.”

The 2017 WTCC season begins at Marrakech, Morocco, from 7-9 April. The championship also includes visits to Monza, Nurburgring Nordschleife, Vila Real, Twin Ring Motegi and Macau.

Team Volvo Polestar made it a first Manufacturers Against the Clock to remember by clinching the honours in the Tour de France-inspired team trial on the challenging streets of Marrakech to claim 12 points in its pursuit of the prestigious FIA World Touring Car Championship for Manufacturers.

Taking part in WTCC MAC3 for the first time, the Swedish squad, competing under the Polestar Cyan Racing banner, set a 2m51.926s for rival make Team Honda to beat. But when Honda’s trio of Norbert Michelisz, Ryo Michigami and Tiago Monteiro could only manage a 2m52.675s, honours went to Volvo Polestar’s line-up of Thed Björk, Nicky Catsburg and Néstor Girolami.

With Girolami and Catsburg also scoring six points for Polestar Cyan Racing with their efforts in qualifying, Volvo’s performance arm now tops the WTCC makes’ standings by two points over Honda heading into tomorrow’s two races at WTCC AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco.

“We’re extremely happy and we’ve just calculated that is the first time we lead a world championship as a brand and we will savour the day fully,” said Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin, Polestar’s Head of Motorsport.

“We have 20 tough races to go but this is the here and now and we’re very happy. The team performed impeccably. The car to beat at this track of course is Honda and we were 0.239s off in qualifying but we managed to outgun them in WTCC MAC3. So just a super-good feedback to everybody in the team who have been working day and night since the Qatar race. We’re really happy right now.”

With two WTCC dominators of recent times, José María López and Yvan Muller, taking on new challenges and the pacesetting factory Citroën squad having completed its planned three-year WTCC stint, picking their successors will be a very close call as several potential title winners prepare for on-track battle. They include:

Mehdi Bennani: WTCC Trophy champion tipped for big things by Sébastien Loeb
Thed Björk: Swift Swede has race-winning pedigree with Volvo’s factory team
Nicky Catsburg: Endurance racer proved he can be a slick sprinter too
Tom Chilton: Chil will aim to thrill during second season with Sébastien Loeb Racing  
Néstor Girolami: López’s former nemesis is a double Argentine touring car champ
Rob Huff: Briton gets a Citroën in his pursuit of second world crown
Norbert Michelisz: Can the gamer turned racer be Hungary’s first world champion?
Tiago Monteiro: He raced in F1 and wants to be world number one in touring cars

WTCC’S YOUNG GENERATION TO SHINE BRIGHTLY
Four young talents will be looking to make their mark in WTCC 2017. John Filippi and Aurélien Panis, both 22, 20-year-old Yann Ehrlacher and Dániel Nagy, just 18, are all big on potential with Ehrlacher and Panis racing in the WTCC for the first time. However, both rookies can count on plenty of family guidance: Panis is the son of 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner Olivier, while Ehrlacher is the son of former racer Cathy Muller and nephew of none other than four-time WTCC champion Yvan Muller.

GUERRIERI IS GO!
Esteban Guerrieri’s dream of returning to the WTCC has come true with confirmation of a minimum five-event programme with Campos Racing. The Barcelona-based squad, a mainstay of the world championship since 2005, has entered its Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 on a full-season basis and signed the ex-single seater sensation Guerrieri for the races in Morocco, Italy, Hungary, Germany and Argentina. The 32-year-old is highly rated having set the fastest time of all during the WTCC Race of Argentina weekend last August.

PRO RACERS HAVE WHAT IT TAKES
Tom Coronel and Ryo Michigami will race for ROAL Motorsport and Honda Racing Team JAS respectively in 2017 and possess lengthy and highly accomplished CVs. Coronel, a contender of the WTCC Trophy for independent racers, began his racing career in 1991 and has 268 WTCC starts to his name. Michigami, meanwhile, began making headlines in his native Japan in 1993 and is a long-term member of the Honda Racing family. He will become the first Japanese to embark on a full-season campaign with a factory team. Meanwhile, RC Motorsport is expected to announce a professional driver for its second Vesta TC1, which will mean another race winner on the grid.  

MORE SIGNINGS COMING SOON
Newcomer RC Motorsport will announce its second driver in the coming weeks to complete the 16-car full-season entry list. However, WTCC regulations allow for race-by-race entries and a number of drivers are discussing terms.

FIA WTCC FULL SEASON ENTRY LIST 2017

T = Indicates WTCC Trophy contender