Yann Ehrlacher extends his points lead with Adria Race 2 win

Yann Ehrlacher took a lights-to-flag victory in the second WTCR race at Adria and has now a comfortable lead of 35 points heading to the season finale later this month at Sochi, where six drivers will be in contention for the 2021 drivers’ title.
Ehrlacher led from pole position into Turn 1 ahead of the two Comtoyou Racing Audi cars of Frédéric Vervisch and Gilles Magnus, while there was drama behind, as Yvan Muller’s Lynk & Co ran into the side of Néstor Girolami’s Honda, pushing him wide at Turn 3.
As Girolami rejoined, he was involved in a three-car collision with the Audi of Tom Coronel and the Hyundai of Jean-Karl Vernay, with all three cars returning to the pit lane with serious damage.
The race then settled down, with Vervisch and Magnus briefly swapping over to see if they could close down on Ehrlacher, but they didn’t have the pace to catch the Frenchman and so switched back, with Vervisch now the only driver in title contention from the Audi fold.
The man on the move was Gabriele Tarquini, who from 12th on the grid, worked his way up to fifth, chasing down his friend and former teammate Yvan Muller in the closing stages of the race.
Ehrlacher won the race by 3.4 seconds ahead of Vervisch, with Magnus completing the podium.
Ehrlacher now leads by 35 points over Vervisch, with Esteban Guerrieri one point further behind after finishing sixth place in the race.
Santiago Urrutia was classified down in 13th, and is mathematically in contention for the title, 44 points back, while the final two drivers who theoretically can still win the 2021 title are French countrymen Muller and Vernay, who are 50 and 51 points down.
There will be 60 points on offer in the season's final event at the Sochi Autodrom on November 27-28.

Adria – Race 2
1. Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 17 laps
2. Frédéric Vervisch (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.356
3. Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.092
4. Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 5.994
5. Gabriele Tarquini (BRC Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N), 6.507

Championship points
1. Y. Ehrlacher 201 pts; 2. F. Vervisch 165; 3. E. Guerrieri 164

Picture: WTCR/DPPI