Yann Ehrlacher encores in final Valencia race

Yann Ehrlacher led Cyan Racing team-mate Santiago Urrutia to victory in the final FIA TCR World Tour race of the day in Valencia, in what was a relatively sedate race.

As the top points scorer of the weekend heading into the third and final race, Ehrlacher started from pole position, with Urrutia alongside.

At the start, the Lynk & Co duo moved away well from the lights, whilst BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami looked to challenge from third but had to back out of the move.

Whilst Ehrlacher led the opening lap, Urrutia made a move on the second tour, diving inside at Turn 2 to take the lead.

However, the Uruguayan’s advantage would only last for a lap, as Ehrlacher got back in front on lap three following team orders.

He would ultimately follow Ehrlacher home for a 1-2 finish, as Ehrlacher’s second win of the weekend gave him the championship lead by six points from Urrutia.

Girolami was unable to challenge and ultimately completed the podium in third, over four seconds adrift.

GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri was fourth, having made a strong start from seventh on the grid to end the opening lap in fourth, where he remained to the chequered flag as the best Honda driver.

BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz got the jump on ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt at the start and took fifth, ahead of the Honda of Volt in sixth.

Ma Qing Hua was seventh in his Cyan Lynk & Co, ahead of GOAT Racing’s Ignacio Montenegro in eighth, the Argentine being one of the only drivers to gain several places, after early progress past SP Compétition’s John Filippi and Cyan’s Thed Björk in the opening laps, before taking eighth from BRC’s Mikel Azcona on lap eight.

The top ten was completed by Azcona and Björk, with little action in the top ten in the second half of the race.

Filippi was 11^th, whilst GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti would have been 12^th but the Italian was handed a five-second penalty for a jump start and thus fell to 15^th.

JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché and Monlau Motorsport’s Eric Gené were the only retirements of the race, continuing their woes from race two earlier in the day.

Ehrlacher leads the drivers’ standings with 152 points, ahead of Urrutia (146), Guerrieri (145), Björk (119) and Ma (100) etc.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	168			Yann EHRLACHER	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	19	19 LAPS	1:42.708	1
2	112			Santiago URRUTIA	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	19	3.731	1:42.696	2
3	129			Néstor GIROLAMI	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	19	4.340	1:42.763	3
4	186			Esteban GUERRIERI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	19	5.465	1:42.957	7
5	105			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	19	6.660	1:43.009	6
6	27			Ruben VOLT	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	19	7.281	1:43.066	4
7	155			MA Qing Hua	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	19	7.633	1:42.931	5
8	123			Ignacio MONTENEGRO	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	19	8.167	1:42.715	10
9	196			Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	19	9.237	1:43.130	11
10	111			Thed BJÖRK	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	19	11.445	1:43.113	8
11	127			John FILIPPI	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	19	13.218	1:42.823	9
12	10			Viktor ANDERSSON	MA:GP	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	19	14.467	1:42.706	13
13	107			Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	19	15.167	1:42.794	18
14	19			Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	19	15.552	1:42.850	12
15	11			Marco BUTTI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	19	18.768	1:42.865	15
16	45			Raphaël FOURNIER	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	19	24.167	1:43.459	14
R	4			Julien BRICHÉ	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	DNF	1:42.945	16
R	28			Eric GENÉ Casanovas	Monlau Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	10	DNF	1:43.028	17