Esteban Guerrieri was the next driver eliminated from championship contention, after the GOAT Racing Honda driver retired after he came together with team-mate Marco Butti at the exit of Lisboa, causing a pile-up which caused the race to be red-flagged.
Guerrieri came into the weekend ten points behind and second in the championship, and needed a strong result in the race from sixth on the grid in order to keep his title hopes alive, but it all unravelled after a daring pass on Yann Ehrlacher’s Lynk & Co at Lisboa didn’t pay off, and ended up causing a collision.
“We made a projection before the race, and where I needed to finish today was ahead of Ehrlacher and Norbi (Michelisz), or tomorrow we’d lose the championship by two points if what we think tomorrow would happen,” explained Guerrieri.
“I pictured the move last night in my head, but I just missed out by five meters on braking efficency. If Norbi had been a little bit further away, I could have released the brake maybe and made the corner, and the crash was an unfortunate consequence.”
Guerrieri was found at fault of crossing back across the circuit and into his team-mate Marco Butti, which caused Guerrieri to spin around be collected by the field, which has resulted in him getting a three-place grid penalty tomorrow.
“I’m not too worried about regaining third in the championship, it was first or nothing really,” he said. “It’s a bit of a bitter feeling now, but looking at the whole picture, it’s definitely been a season to be proud of with this team, which was only put together in March.”
