Ehrlacher survives a chaotic Race 2 and stretches points lead
The second race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Hunan International Circuit turned into a crazy wrestling fight on a tricky, slippery track.
Eventually Yann Ehrlacher was the best survivor and scored a crucial victory for his title bid; his closest competitor and teammate Thed Björk finished third, which means they are now split by 35 points, while the third contender, Esteban Guerrieri did not finish and is now 83 points behind with 105 still at stake.
Mikel Azcona’s second place salvaged somehow the honour for Hyundai after a family fight that was hard to understand.
In TCR Asia, Sean Chang Chien Shang’s third place meant he’s just one point away from securing the title.
Rain began to fell just before the warm-up lap; Santiago Urrutia and Néstor Girolami were on the front row and the Argentine led at the start though going very wide at T1. Behind the two leaders it was chaos with Esteban Guerrieri trying to move up in the order and clashing with several other cars.
At the end of the first lap, Girolami was leading from Urrutia, Azcona and Ehrlacher. The battle for the following positions was fierce, with Björk, Will Brown, Guerrieri and Aurélien Comte running abreast and passing each other until Björk pulled away and Guerrieri pitted for replacing a wheel.
Race Control ordered Girolami to give back the lead to Urrutia for having gained an unfair advantage at the start, the Argentine driver obeyed but then collided with his teammate Azcona. Both cars were damaged, Girolami’s lost the front splitter, Azcona continued dragging the rear bumper until he lost it.
Ehrlacher and Björk took advantage from the fratricidal battle and moved up to second and fourth, with Girolami still in third. Another fight, for P6, involved Norbert Michelisz and Ma Qing Hua; Michelisz muscled his way through but was handed a five second penalty.
In TCR Asia, Jiang Nan passed Benny Santoso and ran away, while Santoso was chased by Yang Hao Jie.
In lap 11, Guerrieri stopped along the track and the safety car was deployed.
Racing resumed in lap 14, with Urrutia handing the lead to Ehrlacher; behind him another ruthless fight involved Björk, Urrutia, Girolami, Michelisz, Azcona and Ma. There was contact, cuttings and overtaking manoeuvres; eventually, Azcona and Björk moved to second and third, with Comte in fourth.
TCR Asia was reshuffled as Jiang dropped with a technical issue and Santoso encored his yesterday’s victory from Yang and Chang.
Race 3 will follow at 16:40 local time (09:40 CET), with Comte on pole position and Björk alongside him.
Race 2
- Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 16 laps
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N), 3.361
- Thed Björk (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 4.184
Championship points
- Y. Ehrlacher, 424 pts; 2. T. Björk, 389; 3. E. Guerrieri, 341
Championship points – TCR Asia
- Chang C.S., 365 pts; 2. B. Santoso, 326; 3. D. Moran, 310
Picture: WSC/Jun Qian Motorsport
