Oriola claims maiden win in authoritative way
Pepe Oriola claimed his and Cupra’s maiden WTCR victory in an authoritative way at the Slovakia Ring. Jean-Karl Vernay and Gabriele Tarquini completed the podium ahead of Aurélien Comte and an impressive Fabrizio Giovanardi who scored the first points for him and the Romeo Ferraris-built Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
The starting grid had been reshuffled after the Hyundai cars of Norbert Michelisz and Yvan Muller – second and third in Qualifying – had been excluded for a technical infringement and dropped to the back. Muller’s teammate Thed Björk (7th in Qualifying) was excluded as well, but he had been already demoted because of an engine change.
Tarquini took a poor start from the pole and dropped behind Comte, Oriola and Vernay. Guerrieri pitted following a contact with another car, while Oriola and Vernay overtook Comte on lap 2.
After starting 12th, Giovanardi was elbowing his way through the field and overtook Dupont for seventh, Coronel for sixth and Ehrlacher for fifth; at the same time Tarquini overtook Comte for third.
The safety car was deployed on lap 5 after Frédéric Vervisch’s Audi stopped along the track. When the race restarted, Oriola built a small cushion and won from Vernay and Tarquini; Comte managed to resist Giovanardi’s final assault.
Muller finished 12th but retained the leadership of the standings; however Tarquini and Ehrlacher have closed the gap to five and 12 points respectively.
Action will resume later on today at 15:10 (CET) with the Qualifying session for races 2 and 3.
