New TCN Logo

Upcoming events:

New TCN Logo

Santiago Urrutia moves to second in standings with race two win

Santiago Urrutia moved up to second in the drivers’ standings of the FIA World Touring Car Cup standings with a lights-to-flag victory in race two at the Hungaroring, after pole-sitter Rob Huff had to start from the pitlane.

Huff was unable to assume his pole position due to the damage to his car caused by broken suspension in race one, with a broken bolt to blame.

The Brit started from the pitlane, but then had to serve a drive-through penalty in the race after not respecting the pit lane exit light, adding insult to injury for the CUPRA driver.

- Advertisement -

At the start, Urrutia was effectively on pole and assumed an early lead in his Lynk & Co, as Münnich Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami moved up to second ahead.

Home hero Norbert Michelisz had started alongside Urrutia, but the Hungarian was turned around at the first corner when Girolami moved over on him, pushing the Hyundai driver into the path of Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk, who was an innocent party.

That dropped Michelisz to the very back of the pack, as the leading battle became between Lynk & Co’s Urrutia and Honda’s Girolami.

By lap four the Uruguayan had opened up a two-second lead, and he was able to manage that gap for the rest of the race, despite a late spurt by Girolami.

For Girolami, second is just the Argentine’s second visit to the podium this season, whilst third went to the Audi of Frédéric Vervisch.

The Comtoyou Racing driver made a superb start when the lights to went out to jump from what was effectively eighth on the grid up to third on the very first lap of the race.

UPDATE: Girolami was later handed a post-race five-second penalty for contact with Michelisz on the opening lap, dropping him to fifth.

Mikel Azcona claimed fourth in his Zengő Motorsport CUPRA, ahead of Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher in fifth.

The win for Urrutia and fifth for Ehrlacher means the two Lynk & Co drivers are now tied at the top of the drivers’ standings with 101 points.

Yvan Muller was just behind his nephew in sixth, ahead of team-mate Thed Björk in seventh.

Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri jumped up from 12th on the grid to eighth on the opening lap of the race, but the Honda driver couldn’t make any further progress around the tricky-to-pass circuit.

The top ten was completed by the Audi of race one winner Gilles Magnus and the Honda of Attila Tassi.

The only retirements of the race came in an opening lap incident. Hyundai’s Jean-Karl Vernay appeared to tag stable-mate Gabriele Tarquini at Turn 3, pitching the Italian into the Target Competition Elantra of Andreas Bäckman. Tarquini and Bäckman retired from the race with damage, whilst Vernay lost pace and ultimately finished the race down in 13th.

With Vernay failing to score big points in Hungary, he has dropped to third in the drivers’ standings, 14 points adrift of the lead.

The next WTCR event takes place at Autodrom Most in Czechia on 9 – 10 October.

Race results

POS NO CL NAT DRIVER ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME BEST GD
1 12 Santiago URRUTIA Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 15 28:53.853 1:54.121 2
2 29 Néstor GIROLAMI ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 15 1.245 1:54.367 4
3 22 Frédéric VERVISCH Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 15 2.328 1:54.036 9
4 96 Mikel AZCONA Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 15 3.387 1:54.356 6
5 68 Yann EHRLACHER Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 15 4.616 1:54.457 7
6 100 Yvan MULLER Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 15 8.503 1:54.693 8
7 11 Thed BJÖRK Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 15 10.050 1:54.709 5
8 86 Esteban GUERRIERI ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 15 12.707 1:54.790 12
9 16 Gilles MAGNUS Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 15 13.825 1:55.031 10
10 9 Attila TASSI ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 15 16.248 1:55.107 14
11 18 Tiago MONTEIRO ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 15 17.187 1:55.090 13
12 17 Nathanaël BERTHON Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 15 18.124 1:55.204 11
13 69 Jean-Karl VERNAY Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR 15 19.083 1:54.463 16
14 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Hyundai Elantra N TCR 15 19.619 1:54.283 3
15 8 Luca ENGSTLER Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR 15 23.387 1:55.140 15
16 32 Tom CORONEL Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 15 28.984 1:55.807 18
17 28 Jordi GENÉ Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 15 29.421 1:56.290 19
18 79 Rob HUFF Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 15 30.367 1:54.374 1
19 55 Bence BOLDIZS Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 15 32.022 1:56.060 22
20 82 Nicola BALDAN Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N TCR 15 38.978 1:56.196 21
21 26 Jessica BÄCKMAN Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N TCR 15 39.614 1:54.941 20
22 19 Andreas BÄCKMAN Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N TCR 2 DNF N/A 23
23 3 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Hyundai Elantra N TCR 1 DNF N/A 17
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

Stay Connected

7,273FansLike
6,630FollowersFollow

Must Read

- Advertisement -

Related News

- Advertisement -