Björk wins the first race at Macau and closes to within five points
Thed Björk led from lights-to-flag in the first race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Macau and closed in on the championship leader Norbert Michelisz who has seen his leadership cut to five points before tomorrow’s last race of the season.
First and fourth for Björk and Yann Ehrlacher was enough to secure Lynk & Co Cyan Racing its second consecutive Teams’ title.
At the start, Björk held the lead from the pole into T1 ahead of Mikel Azcona, while his teammate Ehrlacher was passed by the points leader Norbert Michelisz for P3. Further back, Ma Qing Hua stalled from eighth on the grid, and his Lynk & Co was collected by the Honda of Gary Kwok, who also made contact with the Hyundai of Benny Santoso; both Kwok and Ma were out of the race.
Up front into the Lisboa bend, Björk led despite a light touch from Azcona, while Esteban Guerrieri dived on Ehrlacher down the inside for fourth, narrowly missing Michelisz and running wide into the corner. Then heading up to the San Francisco bend, he was involved in a three-way squeeze with teammate Marco Butti and Rob Huff. Guerrieri’s car was turned around, breaking his rear-right wheel and causing a pile-up, with the race immediately red-flagged. In the carnage, nine cars suffered damage and retired, those of Guerrieri, Butti, Juan Carlos Zhu Hu An, Wu Yi Fan, Max Hart, Jamie Lai Jing Wen, Andy Yan Cheuk Wai, Martin Xie Xin Zhe and John Filippi.
At the restart, behind the safety car, Björk continued to lead, while Azcona dropped behind Michelisz to defend him from Ehrlacher. Huff, despite minor damage, was continuing to gain ground and moved up past TCR China leader Martin Cao Hong Wei at Lisboa on lap 4, before closing in on the fifth-placed Néstor Girolami. Dušan Borković, who had narrowly avoided being the third GOAT Racing Honda eliminated at the start, overtook Cao with four laps to go, as the Chinese driver looked after his fight with title rival Jason Zhang Zhi Qiang now right behind him on the road.
Björk controlled the pace to win ahead of Michelisz and Azcona, and so closed up to five points from Michelisz in the championship. Azcona and Ehrlacher are tied for third, 26 points back, and have a mathematical chance to win the title but need nothing short of a victory in tomorrow’s race, while Guerrieri’s challenge is now over.
In TCR China, Cao won from Zhang Z.Q. and stretched his lead in the standings to ten points, while Zhang Zhen Dong finished 11th overall and clinched the TCR Asia title, as teammate Hart was eliminated in the first lap incident.
Race 2 takes place at 11:00 local time tomorrow (04:00 CET), with the Hyundai cars of TCR China drivers Cao and Yan starting from the front row.
Macau – Race 1
- Thed Björk (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 11 laps
- Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N), 1.874
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N), 2.529
Championship points – TCR World Tour
- N. Michelisz, 305 pts; 2. T. Björk, 300; 3. Y. Ehrlacher, 279
Championship points – TCR China
- M. Cao H.W., 395 pts; 2. J. Zhang Z.Q., 385; 3. D. Zhu D.W., 291
Championship points – TCR Asia
- Zhang Z.D., 376 pts; 2. M. Hart, 317; 3. Hwang D. 300
Picture: WSC/Jun Qian Motorsport
