Jean-Karl Vernay wins Spain Race 1 and closes in on title fight
Jean-Karl Vernay claimed his first World Touring Car Cup win for Team Mulsanne in the first race of the MotorLand Aragón weekend, taking a step closer to join the title fight.
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR driver started third and managed to snatch the lead into the first corner from a slow starting Norbert Michelisz and Gilles Magnus.
Vernay was then unchallenged for the rest of the race while there was frantic action behind him.
The opening lap saw plenty of incidents and a man on the move was Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver Santiago Urrutia who started seventh but was second by the end of the first lap.
Michelisz continued to drop down the order and found himself in a tough inter-Hyundai battle with Gabriele Tarquini and Luca Engstler.
Tarquini came out on top of that battle to finish fifth, while Zengő Motorsport driver Mikel Azcona gained one place from his fifth place grid start to finish fourth.
Quadruple world champion Yvan Muller made his way up from tenth on the grid to finish seventh ahead of Engstler.
Bence Boldizs drove a solid race to finish ninth, the position where he started the race from.
Vernay won the race eight tenths ahead of Urrutia and three seconds ahead of Magnus.
Néstor Girolami was the top Honda driver to finish tenth while championship leader Yann Ehrlacher fought his way from 20th to finish eleventh.
And Ehrlacher was involved in a tough fight with title rival Esteban Guerrieri, with the Münnich Motorosport driver not being able to keep up and crossed the finishing line in 13th.
Ehrlacher heads Guerrieri by 24 points while race winner Vernay has moved up to third ahead of Muller, 38 points from the lead.
Thed Björk retired from the race with suspension damage, retiring on lap seven. Tom Coronel retired two laps later due to an engine issue.
The second race of the day starts at 12:15 CET.
