Azcona converts the reversed pole into his first win
Mikel Azcona claimed his first win in the current season, as he dominated the second race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Inje Speedium.
The BRC Hyundai Squadra Corse driver started from the pole and never looked back, while the pack behind was fighting for the positions. Eventually, Thed Björk handed P2 to Yann Ehrlacher who has further stretched his leadership in the standings to 42 points ahead of Esteban Guerrieri who finished fourth.
These results will place Björk and Ehrlacher on the front row of the grid for the last race, ahead of Josh Buchan and Guerrieri.
Azcona and Ma Qin Hua were on the front row of the reversed grid; Azcona led at the start, while Dušan Borković from P3 overtook Ma Qing Hua. Behind the leading trio Ignacio Montenegro, Ehrlacher and Björk were fighting for P4. During the first lap, Aurélien Comte retired after a collision with Santiago Urrutia; later Guerrieri passed Urrutia for P7 in lap 3 and Björk for P6 in lap 4.
Up front, Azcona seemed uncatchable, while Borković was under pressure from Ma. Positions were shuffled in lap 5, with Björk advancing to fifth ahead of Guerrieri and Ehrlacher. In the following lap Montenegro dropped from fourth to seventh behind Björk, Guerrieri and Ehrlacher.
Choi Jeong Weon was leading TCR Asia with Diego Moran and Sean Chang Chien Shang in second and third, while Race 1 winner Buchan was recovering after he had stalled at the start due to a gearbox issue.
The safety car was deployed after Junui Park went off at T3 while fighting with Norbert Michelisz and Urrutia, which erased Azcona’s five-second lead. The green flag was waved for lap 11, and Björk passed Ma for third; Ma and Guerrieri then made contact and Ehrlacher passed them both advancing to fourth.
In lap 13, Borković made a mistake and was passed by Björk, then there was contact between Borković and Ehrlacher who moved into P3. Afterwards, Borković let Guerrieri through into P4. On the last lap, with Azcona winning by four seconds, Björk handed the second place to Ehrlacher.
In TCR Asia, Moran managed to score a second win, while Choi kept Chang at bay to finish second.
The event will be concluded by Race 3 at 16:40 (09:40 CEST).
Race 2
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N), 18 laps
- Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 4.168
- Thed Björk (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 4,519
Championship points
- Y. Ehrlacher, 349 pts; 2. E. Guerrieri, 307; 3. T. Björk, 302
Championship points – TCR Asia
- Chang C.S., 265 pts; 2. D. Moran, 233; 3. B. Santoso, 212
Picture: WSC/Jun Qian Motorsport
