Münnich claims third TCR Middle East win in Abu Dhabi

René Münnich and his Honda Civic Type R scored a third victory in TCR Middle East at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit.
Just like in the two previous sprint races held last week at Dubai, the German driver set pole position in Qualifying and outpaced the competitors in the 30-minute race. Luc Breukers claimed another second place in the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA, while the podium was completed by series newcomer Paul Dehadray in the JW Bird Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Inspired by Norbert Michelisz’s successful launch of some years ago, Zengő Motorsport offered the 23-year-old simulator-player Tamás Tenke, the opportunity to make his racing debut in the team’s second CUPRA car.
Münnich sprinted from the pole, resisted an attempt from Breukers at T1 and pulled away from the first lap; Breukers held on to the second position while the Zengő Motorsport cars of Tenke and Zoltán Zengő were fighting for the third place. On lap 4, however, Zengő stopped along the track with an engine issue and one lap later Dehadray managed to steal third from Tenke. Eventually, the latter retired into the pits on the penultimate lap.
Action will resume tomorrow with the second sprint race that will see Dehadray’s co-driver Kieran Griffin on pole of the reverse grid. A 4-hour race will follow, counting as Round 6 of the TCR Middle East and Round 2 of the 24H Middle East Series.

Race 1
1) René Münnich (All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic FK7), 12 laps
2) Luc Breukers (Red Camel-Jordans.nl, CUPRA), 54.168
3) Paul Dehadray (JW Bird Motorsport, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 1:01.375

Championship points
1. Münnich 95 pts; 2. Breukers 72; 3. Zengő 45