WTCC rookie Demoustier impresses the boss

Rookie FIA World Touring Car Championship racer Grégoire Demoustier isn’t just impressing the WTCC establishment – he’s also impressing the boss.

Two races into this WTCC career, Demoustier has scored a championship point and makes his debut in Marrakech, venue of Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco this weekend, on a high following a strong test in Portugal recently, a performance that wowed Craft-Bamboo Racing CEO Richard Coleman.

“The entire team was really impressed with Gregoire’s pace and performance during the extensive Portimão test period and we have made a huge amount of progress with the car since the first race,” said Coleman. “We will be looking at a safe approach with the tyres this weekend which will hopefully benefit us in later races, but it is important that we wait until Budapest to see where the improvements made in testing have got us.”

Despite his successful test in Portugal, Demoustier will make his debut at Circuit Moulay El Hassan on the back foot. An over rev when changing down gears in Argentina has necessitated an engine change, which will mean a 10-place grid penalty for the French rising star.

“It is a real shame about my 10 place grid penalty after the start we had in Argentina,” said Demoustier. “We completed four days of successful testing in Portimão, where I gained lots of experience in the car and consistently improved my lap times. The engineers did a great job of extracting more performance from the car and it is unfortunate that I won’t be able to showcase this in Morocco but I will be doing my absolute best to challenge the rest of the field.”