Magnus holds off Huff to take WTCR Race 1 win at Aragón

Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus won the opening race of the WTCR weekend at MotorLand Aragón despite constant pressure from Zengő Motorsport’s Rob Huff and put himself right in championship contention. 

Magnus made the perfect start from the pole, covering off his teammate Nathanaël Berthon into the first corner, which briefly allowed Yann Ehrlacher up to second place. Ehrlacher was held up at Turn 1 by Magnus and Huff moved up to second down the inside; from then on, the top two began to break away from the pack. Ehrlacher didn’t have the pace to stay up front and slowly dropped down the order. 

Over the course of the first few laps, BRC Hyundai teammates Mikel Azcona and Norbert Michelisz made fast progress from eighth and ninth on the grid, working their way up to fourth and fifth by lap five.

Azcona then caught up to Berthon but was unable to make any further progress; he battled the Frenchman throughout the remainder of the race, but Berthon resisted the pressure.

Magnus won the race by just under four-tenths of a second ahead of Huff, with the top two drivers nearly four seconds clear of the rest of the field. Berthon crossed the line in third position ahead of Azcona, but the Frenchman was then dropped to fourth by a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Ehrlacher.

Azcona continues to lead the championship, but is now only eleven points clear of Magnus, while Ehrlacher moves up to third in the standings, albeit 23 points back.

The second race of the day takes place at 15:15 CEST, with Ma Qing Hua starting from pole in his Lynk & Co ahead of the two Hyundai cars of Michelisz and Azcona.

Aragón – Race 1
1. Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 16 laps
2. Rob Huff (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.393
3. Mikel Azcona (BRC Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N), 4.869

Championship points
1. M. Azcona 104 pts; 2. G. Magnus 93; 3. Y. Ehrlacher 81