Yann Ehrlacher down but not out after Ningbo disaster

Münnich Honda driver Yann Ehrlacher’s championship charge was heavily dented this weekend, after an incident at the end of the first race involving newcomer Ma Qing Hua’s Boutsen Ginion car, but says he can hopefully claw back the gap in the championship.

After an eighth-place finish in Race 1, those were the only points he’d score all weekend after missing the top five in qualifying, but while he looked set for third in Race 2, a broken anti-roll bar saw him fall back towards the Audi of Frédéric Vervisch, and after the two made contact, he fell to tenth, when he was hit by Ma on the final lap, destroying his left-rear quarter.

With team-mate Esteban Guerrieri setting the fastest lap of the weekend in Qualifying 2, the Honda’s pace at least wasn’t in question.

“I’m quite happy with the pace we had this weekend,” said Ehrlacher to TouringCarTimes.

“It looks like it’s easier for the Hyundais to put the lap time together, which is not so easy for us. In quali, if we had put everything together I would have been on the same tenth as Esteban, so it just shows if we put everything together. I’ll quickly forget this weekend, as I just scored six points, at Zandvoort I scored ten-times more than this.

“I was 50 points off at Zandvoort and still came back, but it’s better to have them in the bag then still need to get them. We’re working and improving all the time, I think we’ve had a good season, we were unlucky in some races, but it’s 50/50, sometimes you’re unlucky, sometimes you get it back.”