Bennani scores the Hyundai Elantra’s first sprint race win

The reigning TCR Europe champion Mehdi Bennani gave the Hyundai Elantra N its first win in a sprint race when the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver held off a determined challenge from the CUPRA Leon Competición of Mikel Azcona to record a lights-to-flag victory in Race 2 at the Slovakia Ring. Franco Girolami finished in third place following another thrilling battle for the final podium place.
After starting from pole position, Bennani led the field into Turn 1, but the strongest start came from Girolami whose Honda Civic Type R leapt from fifth on the grid into P2 by halfway through the opening lap. Not so fortunate was Bennani’s young team-mate Sami Taoufik, whose car had to pushed off the grid after a transmission problem. The safety car was deployed as a precaution, but the car was soon safely back in the pit lane and so the safety car period only lasted a single lap. 
After winning yesterday’s Race 1, Azcona clearly had ideas about claiming another victory in Race 2. The Spaniard had started from ninth on the grid but was already up to fourth by the time the safety car was deployed. Also on the move through the pack was the Hyundai i30 N of Mat’o Homola; after the disappointment of not starting Race 1, the Slovakian driver had made up four places on the opening lap, up to P8.
Once the safety car came in, Azcona made short work of passing Klim Gavrilov’s Audi for third place, while Felice Jelmini in another of the SLR Elantra cars ran wide at the exit to Turn 2 and lost two places. He would drop another position at the same corner on the next lap, going from P6 to P9 in a little over a lap. On the following lap, Azcona passed Girolami for second and set off in pursuit of Bennani to set up a scrap for the win that would last for the remainder of the race. Further down the order, there were a number of battles going on. Homola was passed by both Tom Coronel (for P7) and Jelmini (for P8) in quick succession, although the Slovak was soon able to retake eighth from Jelmini. On Lap 6, there was contact between the Audi of Dušan Borkovič and Niels Langeveld’s Hyundai, with the Dutch driver forced to take to the grass. 
Over the race’s closing laps, Azcona was pressuring Bennani, and three drivers were fighting for third position. Coronel was also keen to join that battle after passing Isidro Callejas on Lap 8. On the following lap, Langeveld pulled into the pits with an apparent overheating issue, possibly caused by his earlier excursion through the grass. Nicolas Baert then passed Homola for P8 once again, but by now all eyes were on the two battles going on for the podium places.
Despite lap after lap of intense pressure from Azcona, Bennani held on to do the one thing he failed to do during his 2020 TCR Europe champion season. He held his nerve to take the victory by a fraction over half-a-second, with Girolami also holding off his pursuers to secure third place. Behind those three, Klim Gavrilov finished fourth and Dániel Nagy was fifth.
Azcona is the early leader in the standings, 22 points clear of Bennani with Dániel Nagy two further points adrift.

Slovakia Ring – Race 2
1. Mehdi Bennani (Sébastien Loeb Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 11 laps
2. Mikel Azcona (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.501
3. Franco Girolami (PSS Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
4. Klim Gavrilov (VRC-Team, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.858
5. Dániel Nagy (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 4.698

Championship points
1. M. Azcona 84 pts; 2. M. Bennani 62; 3. D. Nagy 60 

Picture: TCR Europe