Oriola claims maiden win in authoritative way

Pepe Oriola claimed his and Cupra’s maiden WTCR victory in an authoritative way at the Slovakia Ring. Jean-Karl Vernay and Gabriele Tarquini completed the podium ahead of Aurélien Comte and an impressive Fabrizio Giovanardi who scored the first points for him and the Romeo Ferraris-built Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
The starting grid had been reshuffled after the Hyundai cars of Norbert Michelisz and Yvan Muller – second and third in Qualifying – had been excluded for a technical infringement and dropped to the back. Muller’s teammate Thed Björk (7^th in Qualifying) was excluded as well, but he had been already demoted because of an engine change.
Tarquini took a poor start from the pole and dropped behind Comte, Oriola and Vernay. Guerrieri pitted following a contact with another car, while Oriola and Vernay overtook Comte on lap 2.
After starting 12^th, Giovanardi was elbowing his way through the field and overtook Dupont for seventh, Coronel for sixth and Ehrlacher for fifth; at the same time Tarquini overtook Comte for third.
The safety car was deployed on lap 5 after Frédéric Vervisch’s Audi stopped along the track. When the race restarted, Oriola built a small cushion and won from Vernay and Tarquini; Comte managed to resist Giovanardi’s final assault.
Muller finished 12^th but retained the leadership of the standings; however Tarquini and Ehrlacher have closed the gap to five and 12 points respectively.
Action will resume later on today at 15:10 (CET) with the Qualifying session for races 2 and 3.