Santiago Urrutia fights back to win Adria reverse-grid race

Santiago Urrutia has won the reverse-grid FIA World Touring Car Cup race at Adria Raceway, elevating him up into second place in the championship standings – equal on points with Honda’s Esteban Guerrieri.

However, from second place on the grid, it was Guerrieri who made the best getaway, managing to slot into the lead ahead of polesitter Urrutia before turn one. Nevertheless, the Lynk & Co driver was back in front by the end of the opening lap thanks to a last gasp move at the final corner. 

Meanwhile, Thed Bjork dropped down the order to act as rear-gunner for championship-leading team-mate Yann Ehrlacher. However, contact from behind in sector two soon put an end to that, pushing Bjork out of contention. 

Further back, Nestor Girolami made an important move on Frederic Vervisch, stealing crucial points away from Audi’s title challenger. Luckily for the Belgian, his compatriot and team-mate Gilles Magnus was the next car in the queue, so it was unlikely that he would fall back any further. 

A few car lengths behind, Ehrlacher conceded tenth place to his key title rival Jean-Karl Vernay, who was a man on a mission following a disappointing qualifying session yesterday. It nearly all went wrong for the points leader though, following front-to-rear contact at turn one with Gabriele Tarquini. In the end however, it was Tarquini who was most compromised by the incident, with Mikel Azcona scything past on the inside as the Italian ran deep into the corner. 

Vernay’s charge continued, meanwhile. Having closed in on the three-car train of Audis, he attempted to get by rear-gunner Nathanael Berthon on the inside of the penultimate bend. However, this meant that he would be stuck on the outside for the final corner, allowing Berthon to hold onto the position. 

On lap nine, there was a shuffle amongst the Comtoyou Racing pack. Seemingly struggling for outright pace, Vervisch allowed Magnus ahead of him in the hope that his younger team-mate could perhaps get ahead of Girolami in front, pushing the Honda driver back into the clutches of the Belgian. The plan worked perfectly, and a few laps later the pair of them were ahead of the Argentine.

Meanwhile, just behind, Vernay finally made his robust move on Berthon stick at the penultimate corner, leading to an equally robust fightback from the Audi driver. In the end, side to side contact at the first of the switchbacks put Berthon into the barriers, and eventually, the pit lane.

While the mid-pack was busy going at each other, Tom Coronel in the fourth of the Audis managed to pass Guerrieri for second place at the penultimate bend as well. Guerrieri fought back immediately though, sticking his nose up the inside at the final bend and at turn one, but the Dutchman was able to fend him off.

Onto the last lap, Tarquini’s comeback through the order continued. Having dealt with Azcona, the Italian then got the better of a tentative Ehrlacher for tenth. 

Out in the lead though, Urrutia was largely unchallenged en route to victory in race one. Coronel achieved his best result of the year in second place, while Guerrieri will be somewhat disappointed with third after having led for most of the first lap. 

A second further back, Michelisz was Hyundai’s best performer in fourth, while Muller rounded out the top five.

As planned, Magnus was able to concede sixth position to title-challenging team-mate Vervisch, ahead of Girolami who managed to hold Vernay at bay for eighth. 

Retiring home hero Tarquini marked the occasion with a hard-fought top ten finish, just in front of Ehrlacher who had successfully managed to limit the damage in eleventh. 

Azcona wound up as best of the CUPRA contingent in twelfth, while Bjork fought back to thirteenth ahead of Azcona’s team-mate Rob Huff. Luca Engstler scored the final point for Hyundai in fifth. 

Race two gets underway shortly at 12:00 local time (11:00 GMT).

Revised race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	12			Santiago URRUTIA	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	26:17.538	1:51.980	1
2	32			Tom CORONEL	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	14	1.432	1:51.969	3
3	86			Esteban GUERRIERI	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	14	3.352	1:52.029	2
4	5			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	4.675	1:52.183	4
5	100			Yvan MULLER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	5.711	1:52.252	6
6	22			Frédéric VERVISCH	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	14	6.957	1:52.161	9
7	16			Gilles MAGNUS	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	14	7.735	1:52.051	7
8	29			Néstor GIROLAMI	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	14	9.940	1:52.209	5
9	3			Gabriele TARQUINI	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	10.997	1:52.076	11
10	68			Yann EHRLACHER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	11.687	1:52.370	10
11	96			Mikel AZCONA	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	14	12.075	1:52.357	17
12	11			Thed BJÖRK	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	12.784	1:52.298	8
13	79			Rob HUFF	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	14	15.279	1:52.485	15
14	69			Jean-Karl VERNAY	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	15.400	1:52.107	12
15	8			Luca ENGSTLER	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	16.825	1:52.841	16
16	9			Attila TASSI	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	14	17.258	1:52.688	14
17	18			Tiago MONTEIRO	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	14	18.672	1:52.463	19
18	55			Bence BOLDIZS	Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	14	20.038	1:52.645	18
19	82			Nicola BALDAN	Target Competition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	23.616	1:52.797	20
20	28			Jordi GENÉ	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	14	26.561	1:52.754	21
21	17			Nathanaël BERTHON	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	+ 3 LAPS	1:52.250	13