Photo: ETCC Media

Nikolay Karamyshev wins the race and the TC2T title in Pergusa

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Campos Racing’s Nikolay Karamyshev won the first race of the day at Pergusa from lights-to-flag and claims the 2014 FIA European Touring Car Cup TC2T title, with Petr Fulín also winning in the TC2 class and retaining the normally aspirated Super 2000 title.

The Russian driver made a perfect getaway at the start, while his closest rival in the championship, Mat’o Homola, made a mistake at the first chicane from second on the grid and lost several positions in his BMW 320 TC. The young Slovakian regained ground swiftly and was back up to third by the end of the first lap, and then overtook Fulín’s BMW 320si on lap two to move back into second overall.

Homola then briefly closed in on Karamyshev’s Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, reducing the gap to just under a second, but the Russian had it all under control and maintained the gap to win the race by 1.2 seconds and secure the TC2T title, with a 26 point lead with just 20 available in the final race of the day.

Samuel Sladecka in the Sladecka Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 and Aytac Biter in the Borosun Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320 TC came together on the opening lap and both teams will have to repair their cars to make the start of race two.

Liqui Moly Team Engstler are also working hard to repair the BMW 320si of Christian Fischer, who collected the tyre stack at the chicane while he was fighting Kaan Önder for seventh position on lap five.

Mikhail Maleev in the SMP Russian Bears SEAT also suffered a front-left puncture on lap nine, which handed Andreas Pfister, who started from last, a crucial position. The German went on to finish third in the Single-Make Trophy class behind title rival Dmitry Bragin, which means the title will be decided in the final race, with just four points separating the two, who are now the only drivers in contention for the crown.

Gilles Bruckner won the S1600 class race in his Ford Fiesta, while a late race puncture saw Ulrike Krafft drop from second to third, almost 30 seconds behind. As a result, the Luxembourg driver looks set to wrap up the S1600 class title in race two, as he now has a 12 point lead over Krafft, meaning Krafft will need to win the second race with Bruckner finishing fourth or lower in order to claim the title.

The second race gets underway at 14:00 CET.