Rookie Ehrlacher wants to prove he’s the man for the job

Twenty-year-old WTCC rookie Yann Ehrlacher admits he needs to prove RC Motorsport has made the right call to sign him for his maiden FIA World Touring Car Championship campaign in 2017.

Ehrlacher, the nephew of four-time WTCC champion Yvan Muller and son of ex- single-seater racer Cathy, will make his competitive debut for the Magny-Cours team at WTCC AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco in Marrakech next month, having excelled in official WTCC testing at Monza last week with the third best time in one session.

“It was quite a hard decision from the team to take me because I have no experience of front-wheel drive and I don’t know any of the tracks,” said Ehrlacher, who completed 100 laps of the Italian Grand Prix track. “They have taken the risk and I have to prove to them that I can do it.”

Frenchman Ehrlacher insists he’s not taking anything for granted despite his promising testing performance. “There is still a lot of work to do because I’m not sure that the other cars were at 100 per cent [performance at Monza], so there is a lot to do now to be ready for Marrakech and we will do some other testing in Magny-Cours.”