Attila Tassi escapes furious action to claim Race 2 victory at Assen
Attila Tassi escaped a frenetic podium battle behind him to claim his first TCR Europe series victory in the second race at Assen, as Mikel Azcona closed the gap to points leader Dusan Borkovic.
Tassi started fifth, but made quick progress on the opening lap to run second behind early leader Azcona. The pair then drove away from a tough four-car fight for third to take the win by just over a second.
Borkovic claimed the final step on the podium following an epic tussle with pole-sitter Stian Paulsen’s Cupra which culminated in several drivers being investigated post-race.
Azcona’s second place means the PCR Sport Cupra driver is now just two points behind Borkovic with four races remaining.
Race 1 winner Dániel Nagy’s title aspirations took a knock following an apparent engine failure on the third lap of 13 forced the Hungarian out of the race.
Paulsen held the lead into the first corner, but came under immediate attack from Azcona, who drove clean round the outside of the Norwegian at turn three to grab the initiative.
Tassi also made good ground at the start, producing a similar round the outside of Borkovic and the slow-starting Peugeot 308TCR of Julien Briché.
Nagy’s stranded M1RA Hyundai i30 N TCR brought out the safety car on the third lap which close the field up again.
Tassi snatched the lead from Azcona exiting turn ten (Mandeveen) on lap two and led upon resumption and was never challenged en-route to victory.
The real action was behind though, with Paulsen struggling to keep Borkovic – who survived a tap from Target Competition team-mate Kris Richard at turn one – and the Comtoyou Volkswagen Golf GTI of Maxime Potty behind.
Paulsen repeatedly exceeded track limits as he clung onto the position, but eventually fell victim to the superior Hyundai at the first corner on the penultimate lap.
By then, the squabling trio were joined by Stefano Comini’s Autodis by THX Honda Civic Type R FK8 and Jean-Karl Vernay’s Team WRT Audi RS 3 LMS.
Potty dropped back after clipping the rear of Comini’s car between turns 10 and 11. Comini recovered and slipstreamed past the Golf on the run into Ramshoek at the end of the lap.
The Swiss driver then made it past Paulsen after the latter’s shortcut of the final corner to secure fourth at the finish, while Potty lost sixth after running wide at turn five (Strubben). This in turn forced Comini, Vernay and Richard onto the run-off area, with all three – and Paulsen – remaining under investigation.
Paulsen led Richard and Vernay over the line, with Potty eighth. Behind, Jens Reno Møller finished ninth in his Reno Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR with Reece Barr picking up the final point in tenth for Target Competition.
Tassi’s KCMG team-mate Josh Files’ race lasted just one lap after hitting a tyre stack on the opening lap
The next round of the series takes place at Monza on September 22nd-23rd.
