Frédéric Vervisch becomes first double race winner in WTCR this season

Frederic Vervisch has become the first double race winner in the FIA World Touring Car Cup this season, ending a ten-race streak of different victors, at Circuit Pau-Arnos.

Vervisch led the field away from pole, but Thed Bjork got a better launch and attempted to draw alongside the Audi into turn one. However, Vervisch was able to cut across the nose of the Swede’s Lynk & Co to retain the lead through the downhill opening sequence. 

As expected, the run through turn one in the midfield was frantic, but it wasn’t until turn three that we had our first retiree of the race. Yann Ehrlacher had made a poor start and dropped back into the clutches of Tiago Monteiro, who flew by on the outside line through the opening descent. However, as Ehrlacher gained track position back on the inside line into the braking zone for turn three, he clumsily shoulder-barged Monteiro’s Honda, sending it off into the barriers. Naturally, a safety car was called for. 

Yvan Muller, meanwhile, was into the pits with damage following a side-to-side hit with Attila Tassi at the same corner. With the veteran set to start race two from pole, repairing the car in time would be critical.

The race got back underway on lap six of twenty, and Vervisch was able to edge out a significant lead from Bjork straight away. 

Further back, Jordi Gene conceded position to CUPRA stablemate Mikel Azcona, and Gilles Magnus attempted to follow through. However, the Belgian ran out of space at the downhill chicane and had to cut the corner, promptly conceding the position back to Gene when he returned to the track. 

But, Magnus wouldn’t have to wait long to gain fifteenth position and the final championship point. At turn three the following lap, Gene suffered a suspension failure under compression, sending him off into the gravel trap and then pit lane. In fact, there was more strife for the Spanish marque, as Rob Huff soon followed him in. 

Elsewhere, Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia was another driver having a difficult race. The Uruguayan had to serve a grid penalty in this one for impeding Tom Coronel during qualifying, dropping him from seventh to eleventh. Instead of making those places up again though, a botched getaway meant that Urrutia fell right to the back of the pack at the start. Nevertheless, with Huff’s demise, Urrutia was back up into the points-paying top fifteen, having got the better of Bence Boldizs. 

With five laps to go, there was an important change towards the front of the pack. On the pit straight, Norbert Michelisz let off the throttle, allowing Hyundai stablemate Jean-Karl Vernay through for sixth place – and extra points for his title bid. 

Although Ehrlacher’s championship rivals were gaining points on him in the hunt for the drivers’ championship, there was at least some good news for Cyan Racing as Muller’s car was back up and running with a handful of laps to spare. His pole position for race two therefore appeared to be salvaged. 

As expected though, overtaking proved to be difficult around the tight, twisty and high-speed Pau-Arnos circuit. As a result, Vervisch breezed home to become the first double winner of the season. Bjork finished just behind in second place and Gabriele Tarquini completed the podium in third.

The Honda duo of Esteban Guerrieri and Nestor Girolami were next up in fourth and fifth; the former now having reduced Ehrlacher’s championship lead to 20 points. 

Vernay was next across the line in sixth ahead of Michelisz, while championship points leader Ehrlacher finished eighth. 

Luca Engstler secured a top ten finish in ninth, ahead of Coronel who made good progress from fifteenth on the grid thanks to misfortune for others around him. 

Race two gets underway later on today at midday local time (11:00 BST).

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	22			Frédéric VERVISCH	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	20	30:49.555	1:19.837	1
2	11			Thed BJÖRK	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	1.069	1:20.540	2
3	3			Gabriele TARQUINI	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	5.045	1:20.433	3
4	86			Esteban GUERRIERI	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	20	7.052	1:20.860	5
5	29			Néstor GIROLAMI	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	20	8.377	1:21.121	4
6	69			Jean-Karl VERNAY	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	10.199	1:21.307	8
7	5			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	11.281	1:21.252	7
8	68			Yann EHRLACHER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	11.846	1:21.254	6
9	8			Luca ENGSTLER	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	20	14.533	1:21.228	13
10	32			Tom CORONEL	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	20	15.000	1:21.068	15
11	17			Nathanaël BERTHON	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	20	15.855	1:20.585	11
12	9			Attila TASSI	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	20	18.971	1:21.493	18
13	96			Mikel AZCONA	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	20	20.009	1:21.550	19
14	16			Gilles MAGNUS	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	20	20.254	1:20.950	20
15	12			Santiago URRUTIA	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	20	21.411	1:21.471	12
16	55			Bence BOLDIZS	Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	20	21.878	1:21.581	17
R	79			Rob HUFF	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	11	DNF	1:21.133	14
R	28			Jordi GENÉ	Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	8	DNF	1:23.050	16
R	100			Yvan MULLER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	5	DNF	1:21.954	9
R	18			Tiago MONTEIRO	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	0	DNF	N/A	10