Photo: WTCR

Yann Ehrlacher wins at Zandvoort as Michelisz and Muller collide again

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Yann Ehrlacher has taken his second win of the 2018 World Touring Car Cup season in an incident-heavy first race of the weekend, which saw the Hyundais of Norbert Michelisz and championship leader Yvan Muller crash out on the opening lap.

At the start, wild card Bernhard van Oranje blatantly jumped the start from last on the grid in the Bas Koeten Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, while up front Benjamin Lessennes also got away early in the Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda.

Rob Huff, in the SLR Volkswagen, had a slow getaway from pole and fell behind the Honda of Yann Ehrlacher, while Aurélien Comte stormed around the outside to take second into Tarzan in the DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308TCR.

The main drama was to follow as both Yvan Muller and Norbert Michelisz came together, with Muller ending up on top of the barrier with severe damage to the left side of his i30 N TCR, with Michelisz also out of the race.

The race was red-flagged and held for over 30 minutes while the cars were recovered and the barriers repaired, with the race resuming behind the safety car.

At the restart, drive-through penalties were confirmed for van Oranje and Lessennes, but this was unbeknownst to Comtoyou Audi driver Frédéric Vervisch who made a move on Lessennes for fifth and then went out of the race.

The drama allowed the top four to break away, with Ehrlacher leading Comte, Huff and Gordon Shedden in the WRT Audi RS 3 LMS.

Comte kept in touch with leader Ehrlacher, while Shedden had a lunge at Huff on lap ten into Tarzan, briefly moving ahead before Huff retook the spot on the switchback.

A lap later and the race was held behind the safety car again as Fabrizio Giovanardi in the Mulsanne Alfa Romeo crashed out at Hugenholtz in a battle with the Zengo Cupra of Zsolt Szabo.

The race resumed with just two laps to go, with Ehrlacher holding on to take the victory.

Comte finished second with Huff third, with Gordon Shedden securing his best result to-date in fourth ahead of WRT team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay.

With Gabriele Tarquini retiring from the race in the pits after half-way, Thed Björk was the only one of the South Korean manufacturers to finish the race, down in 14th.

Muller still leads the championship, 19 points clear of both Tarquini and Ehrlacher going into tomorrow’s two races.

The next session is Qualifying 2 at 8:30am CET tomorrow.