Luca Engstler emerges victorious in a chaotic Race 2
Luca Engstler took his maiden victory in TCR Europe at the end of the Red Bull Ring’s Race 2 that turned into chaos when the rain made life hard to the drivers who were all on slick tyres.
A long series of skids, mistakes, collisions and overtaking manoeuvres reshuffled the ranking all the time. Tom Coronel led for most of the race, but he had to serve a drive-through because his crew was working on the car after the 5-minute board. He didn’t and crossed the finish line in third position, but was dropped to 18th by a 30-second penalty.
Luca Filippi and Engstler then had a serious battle for the lead in the final two laps that ended with the Italian spinning and crashing into the barriers. And incident that was added to the list of those the Stewards are currently investigating.
Josh Files and Alex Morgan joined Engstler on the podium, which was a great result for them both. Files reinforced his leadership in the standings and Morgan climbed on the podium for the first time on his comeback to the series.
Another driver who deserves to be mentioned is Nelson Panciatici who recovered to fourth after he stalled the engine at the start and queued at the back of the field.
Coronel started well from the pole ahead of Morbidelli and Engstler, but J. Filippi crashed into Nagy at T1 and the safety car was deployed.
When racing resumed, the rain began to fall. Coronel was leading, while Morbidelli, Engstler and Morgan were fighting for second. On lap 7, Tenke crashed and the safety car was deployed again. Coronel was given a drive-through for a grid infringement, while Lloyd served his own drive-through for overtaking during the safety car period.
At the restart, Engstler was chasing Coronel, while L. Filippi and Paulsen overtook Morgan for third and fourth. On lap 11, L. Filippi overtook Engstler for second and then took the lead from Coronel. During the final lap, Engstler passed Coronel for second and began chasing L. Filippi who spun off and crashed. And so Engstler won from Files, Coronel, Morgan, Panciatici and Morbidelli; however Coronel who had not served the drive-through was dropped to 18th by a 30-second penalty
The TCR Europe series will return into action at Oschersleben on 2/4 August.
Race 2
1. Luca Engstler (M1RA Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 13 laps
2. Josh Files (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 1.205
3. Alex Morgan (Wolf-Power Racing, CUPRA), 2.933
4. Nelson Panciatici (M Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 3.151
5. Gianni Morbidelli (WestCoast Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 4.449
Championship points
1. Files 194; 2. Engstler 158; 3. Briché 154
