First victory for Comte and the Peugeot 308

Aurélien Comte gave the Peugeot 308 TCR its maiden victory in the WTCR after he drove a perfect race at Zandvoort, claiming a near lights-to-flag win. Two Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic cars also claimed podium finishes after James Thompson, who had run for much of the race in second place, slowed on the final lap and allowed his teammate Yann Ehrlacher to pass.
Thompson started from pole with Comte alongside on the front row. The Frenchman made a better start and led Thompson going into Turn 1 with Pepe Oriola in third place. Comte and Thompson then ran as a pair at the head of the field, with the British driver never getting quite close enough to mount a serious challenge for the lead. The safety car came out on Lap 5 following contact between Fabrizio Giovanardi and Aurélien Panis that left the Italian’s stranded Alfa needing recovery. Comte managed the restart well and then drove sensibly to record the win.
Ehrlacher spent much of the race fighting with Oriola for third position and there was contact between the pair on Lap 12 that allowed the Honda driver to pass. The incident, however, was referred to the Stewards for investigation after the race. Ehrlacher then claimed second place when he passed Thompson on the final lap.
Behind the podium positions, Yvan Muller spun on Lap 8 and headed for the pits and retirement. Earlier, Jean-Karl Vernay had also recorded a DNF after starting from the back of the grid following an engine change and then retiring to the pits on Lap 5. There were a number of battles within the top ten, including a series of passing moves by Gordon Shedden and Esteban Guerrieri for sixth place that eventually saw the Scottish driver claim the position.
The results helped Ehrlacher to reduce his gap in the standings to only one point behind the current leader, his uncle Muller.
Race 3 will start at 16:35 with Vernay on pole position and Rob Huff alongside him.