Photo: Cyan Racing

Yann Ehrlacher gets his second TCR World Tour win at Hungaroring

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Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher converted pole position at the Hungaroring into his second victory of the TCR World Tour.

Ehrlacher faced a challenge from fellow front-row starter Néstor Girolami on the opening lap, with the ALM Motorsport driver trying the outside line into turn one but not getting far enough alongside to stay wheel-to-wheel on the run to turn two and enabling Ehrlacher’s team-mate Ma Qing Hua to get alongside him.

Hua took second place at the uphill turn four left-hander, despite running off at the exit, however on lap two he was back behind Girolami and BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona.

By that point Ehrlacher was already 2.8 seconds up the road, and he managed his pace through the rest of the 13-lap race won by 2.1s.

Girolami was unable to shake off Azcona, but also never let him get close enough to attempt a move, while Ma in fourth quickly gapped himself from the battles behind.

The first driver to fall victim to the midfield squabbles was MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson, who had to pit with front-left damage and a delaminated tyre on lap five.

While Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch and BRC Racing’s home hero Norbert Micheliz kept it clean in their fight for fifth, there was multiple instances of contact between Aggressive Team Italia’s Kevin Ceccon, ALM Motorport’s Ruben Volt and Comtoyou’s Viktor Davidovski as they fought outside the top ten.

At one point Volt got sandwiched from the front and rear between them, then Davidovski went off down the pit straight and as he rejoined he made contact with Ceccon. Volt somehow sprinted away and passed Comtoyou’s John Filippi within a lap, but he then retired in the pits with three laps to go.

Ceccon managed to beat Davidovki to 12th place, with the pair over eight seconds behind Comtoyou’s Tom Coronel in 11th. As the top ten was primarily populated by TCR World Tour-focused entries, it meant his TCR Europe title ambitions only took a slight hit as team-mate Kobe Pauwels in tenth was the only driver who finished ahead of him and also registered for TCR Europe points.

The results remain provisional as many drivers received multiple warnings over track limits violations, which would lead to post-race penalties.

Ehrlacher and Michelisz are currently tied on 179 points in the lead.

The reversed-grid Race 2 takes place on Sunday at 12:05 local time (CEST).