Ehrlacher and Michelisz claim victories on the streets of Vila Real

Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher and BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz took the spoils in Sunday’s pair of FIA TCR World Tour races on the streets of Vila Real in Portugal, with the former scoring the biggest over the weekend.

After Mikel Azcona claimed pole position on Saturday, it was Ehrlacher who made the best start in Sunday’s opening race, leaping into the lead when the lights went out.

The Frenchman then controlled the race, having to twice manage safety car restarts, to claim his first win of the season and give his title hopes a significant boost.

Hyundai’s Azcona had to settle for second behind the leading Geely, unable to take the fight to Ehrlacher despite having the option of strategic use of the joker lap.

The race had been neutralised after lap three when Mathieu Casalonga crashed his Audi hard at Turn 4, with significant frontal damage and a two-lap interruption to clear up the debris.

Racing resumed for a further three laps, allowing numerous drivers to take their mandatory joker lap, although the leaders only just managed to get theirs completed in time.

The safety car was called again on lap nine when Thed Björk made contact with Jimmy Clairet at Turn 12, sending both drivers into the barriers and out of the race.

The incident occurred when Clairet cut the chicane whilst trying to avoid contact from the Geely of Björk, only for the Swede to tangle with Clairet as he rejoined the circuit.

The incident ultimately cost Björk the reverse-grid pole as he was hit with a three-place grid penalty for the move.

Racing resumed with four laps left, but there were no changes in the order at the front, as Ehrlacher won by just over a second from Azcona, whilst championship leader Santiago Urrutia completed the podium.

Ma Qing Hua was fourth, ahead of Michelisz in fifth, whilst SP Compétition duo Aurélien Comte and Viktor Andersson took sixth and seventh respectively in their CUPRAs.

ALM Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley was eighth, with the top ten completed by local racer Manuel Fernandes and Brazilian Enzo Gianfratti.

Race one result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	168			Yann EHRLACHER	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	40:31.493	2:00.313	2
2	196			Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	16	0.988	2:00.710	1
3	181			Santiago URRUTIA	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	1.621	2:01.197	4
4	155			MA Qing Hua	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	2.495	2:01.650	3
5	105			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	16	5.214	2:00.801	9
6	107			Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	5.913	2:01.551	5
7	10			Viktor ANDERSSON	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	6.479	2:02.484	6
8	246			Jenson BRICKLEY	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	7.345	2:02.532	8
9	13			Manuel FERNANDES JR	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	12.163	2:03.926	12
10	419			Enzo GIANFRATTI	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	14.415	2:04.476	11
11	148			Mikael KARLSSON	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	15.480	2:04.039	13
12	34			Stian PAULSEN	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	16.096	2:04.304	14
R	121			Jimmy CLAIRET	Team Clairet Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	DNF	2:02.280	7
R	111			Thed BJÖRK	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	8	DNF	2:01.647	10
R	431			Mathieu CASALONGA	Team Clairet Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	2	DNF	2:05.737	15
NS	59			Daniel TEIXEIRA	JT59 Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	–	DNS	N/A	16

For race two, Michelisz inherited the reverse-grid pole after Björk’s penalty, and the Hungarian duly made a good start to hold on to his advantage when the lights went out, whilst fellow front-row starter Brickley was under pressure from Clairet for second in the opening laps.

Clairet dropped out of contention with a gearbox issue on lap four, whilst Björk managed to get by Brickley for second on the same lap when the latter went for his first joker lap along with race leader Michelisz.

Stian Paulsen then crashed his Audi heavily on lap five, resulting in a safety car period for just over two laps – and the majority of the field dived to take their first joker lap at the end of the fifth lap.

When racing resumed on lap eight, Brickley fell back to seventh a lap later after having to take his joker, whilst Michelisz began to back Björk up in the knowledge that the Geely behind him still had to serve a joker lap.

That ultimately paid dividends for the Hyundai driver, as when Björk eventually took his joker lap on lap 15, the Swede fell back to seventh.

Michelisz went on to claim victory by over a second from the CUPRA of Comte, who was joined on the podium by team-mate Andersson.

Urrutia was the leading Geely driver in fourth and thus maintained his championship lead in Portugal, with only fifth-placed Ehrlacher scoring higher than the Uruguayan this weekend.

Ma took the chequered flag in sixth, whilst Björk was seventh at the end, having challenged Michelisz for the lead for much of the race.

Brickley took the finish in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by his ALM Motorsport team-mate Mikael Karlsson and Fernandes’ Audi.

Azcona fell out of contention after lap four with a mechanical issue, although his team managed to get him back out a lap down to claim valuable points with a 12^th-place finish.

The next event takes place at Inje Speedium in South Korea on 2 – 4 October.

Race two result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	105			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	16	37:02.315	2:01.577	1
2	107			Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	1.651	2:02.382	6
3	10			Viktor ANDERSSON	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	1.772	2:02.626	5
4	181			Santiago URRUTIA	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	2.390	2:02.807	7
5	168			Yann EHRLACHER	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	3.066	2:02.026	8
6	155			MA Qing Hua	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	3.958	2:02.647	9
7	111			Thed BJÖRK	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	16	7.301	2:02.253	4
8	246			Jenson BRICKLEY	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	12.428	2:02.422	2
9	148			Mikael KARLSSON	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	22.758	2:04.299	12
10	13			Manuel FERNANDES JR	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	24.878	2:03.711	16
11	419			Enzo GIANFRATTI	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	16	25.597	2:03.868	11
12	196			Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	2:02.651	10
R	121			Jimmy CLAIRET	Team Clairet Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	4	DNF	2:02.526	3
R	34			Stian PAULSEN	Vannin Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	4	DNF	2:05.706	13
NS	431			Mathieu CASALONGA	Team Clairet Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	–	DNS	N/A	14
NS	59			Daniel TEIXEIRA	JT59 Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	–	DNS	N/A	15