Igor Skuz takes first ETCC win at a wet Paul Ricard

Ukrainian driver Igor Skuz has won his first race in the FIA European Touring Car Cup, leading a Campos Racing 1-2 after an intense last lap battle with team-mate Nikolay Karamyshev, with Petr Fulín finishing third and winning in the TC2 class.

Following race one, Aku Pellinen was sent to the back of the grid after a breach of parc ferme regulations, which changed the reversed grid draw, putting MGS Racing’s Norbert Nagy on pole position ahead of the Rikli Honda of Andrina Gugger.

Nagy held the lead at the start, while Petr Fulín catapulted up to second from seventh on the grid in the fast-starting rear-wheel drive BMW 320si, with Ronny Jost also making an excellent start in the Topcar SEAT León Supercopa, moving up from tenth to third.

Nagy was able to keep the lead for just one lap in the older, normally aspirated TC2-class Chevrolet, with Fulín taking over the lead on lap two.

The two Campos Chevrolets of Igor Skuz and Nikolay Karamyshev didn’t move forward too many spots at the start, but slowly worked their way forward throughout the race, with Skuz moving past Nagy for second on lap five, and then diving down the inside of Fulín for the lead at Turn 1 on lap seven.

Karamyshev made his way through at a slightly slower rate than his Ukrainian team-mate. The Russian overtook Nagy one lap later than Skuz and passed Fulín for second on lap eight, but by now Skuz had built an almost three second lead.

Aku Pellinen was on a charge from the back, working his way all the way to fourth before contact with Norbert Nagy dropped him back down the order. The Finn still charged forward in the SEAT Supercopa, which has a traction advantage with its 18″ tyres in the wet, and was able to reclaim fourth position on the final lap, and was the clear winner in the Single-Make Trophy class.

Karamyshev closed up on Skuz during the final few laps, taking the lead into the first corner, and the two team-mates continue to battle each other throughout the lap, with Skuz and Karamyshev both side-by-side. Karamyshev then tried to go around the outside of Skuz at the final corner, but the Ukrainian had better drive and got to the chequered flag first, winning the race by 0.347 seconds.

Fulín’s third place gave him another win in the TC2 class, with Pellinen winning the SMT class for the second consecutive race.

Ulrike Krafft took her second straight victory in the S1600 class, again finishing ahead of Ravenol team-mate Christian Kranenberg.

Nikolay Karamyshev leads the TC2T class standings on 21 points ahead of Skuz on 20 points, heading to the next round of the ETCC, which takes place at the Slovakiaring in three weeks’ time.