Photo: Cyan Racing

Yann Ehrlacher heads Cyan Racing 1-2 in bizarre Race 3 safety car finish

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Yann Ehrlacher and Thed Björk headed home a Lynk & Co Cyan Racing 1-2 in the final joint TCR World Tour and TCR Australia race at Bathurst, a race which was ended behind the safety car as Mikel Azcona hit the wall.

Santiago Urrutia started from pole position but was overtaken by team-mate Ehrlacher heading into Turn 2, with Björk slotting into third place ahead of Comtoyou Racing driver Rob Huff.

There was a lot of drama behind, with Peugeot driver Aaron Cameron making a late move on Tony D’Alberto at Forrest Elbow to snatch fifth.

But the joy was short lived as he went wide and dropped down to tenth. And things went from bad to worse for the Peugeot driver as he retired at the end of the race with an overheating engine.

Disaster also struck Race 1 winner Urrutia who hit the wall on lap five, retiring from second place with a broken suspension.

The safety car was called into action on lap seven as GRM driver Jordan Cox stopped on track due to an engine issue.

His team-mate Cameron stopped shortly after as the safety car was set to head back in with one lap left.

Then BRC Hyundai driver Azcona hit the wall under bizarre circumstances at Forrest’s Elbow while driving slowly behind the safety car.

This destroyed the front-right suspension of the Spaniard’s Elantra, stopping on track and forcing the race to be ended behind the safety car.

Ehrlacher won the race ahead of Björk to claim a joint points lead with Huff, who finished third, and Norbert Michelisz, who finished fifth, a single point behind.

The Cyan Racing 1-2 also means that the Swedish outfit has secured the TCR World Tour teams’ title.

Wall Racing driver Alberto finished fourth ahead of Michelisz and Néstor Girolami.

Josh Buchan finished 12th in the race to secure the 2023 TCR Australia title, beating team-mate Bailey Sweeny, who finished eighth, by 13 points.

Next up for the TCR World Tour field is the Macau season finale on November 16-19.