Santiago Urrutia wins Race 2 and moves to second in the points
Santiago Urrutia claimed victory in the second WTCR race of the day at the Hungaroring, winning from an effective pole position, after Rob Huff was unable to take up his P1 spot on the grid following damage sustained in Race 1.
Urrutia launched off the line into the lead, while a fast-starting Néstor Girolami made it past Norbert Michelisz into Turn 1, but the two made contact, with Michelisz spun around and rejoining at the back of the pack.
Frédéric Vervisch had made a lightning getaway from eighth, and found himself third into the first corner, while Mikel Azcona was able to pass the two Lynk & Co cars of Yann Ehrlacher and Yvan Muller to move into fourth position.
It was another terrible race for the Hyundai teams, with Gabriele Tarquini and Jean-Karl Vernay involved in an incident at Turn 3; Tarquini was forced to retire, while former points leader Vernay was only able to recover to 13th by the end of the race.
Huff started from the pit lane, after the team just failed to get his upright fixed in the 15-minute repair time window; the Briton was also forced to serve a drive-through penalty as he left the pit lane while the red light was on to go out to the grid.
The rest of the race was fairly subdued, with Urrutia holding a safe distance to Girolami and Vervisch. The latter briefly found himself threatened by Azcona but was able to hold off the Spaniard to claim third place by the finish.
After the race, Girolami was given a five-second penalty for hitting Michelisz and so dropped to fifth.
Urrutia’s win moved the Uruguayan to second in the championship standings, only two points behind teammate Ehrlacher, while Vernay fell to 14 points behind in third.
The WTCR will resume at Most on October 9 and 10.
Hungaroring – Race 2
1. Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03), 15 laps
2. Frédéric Vervisch (Comtoyou Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 2.328
3. Mikel Azcona (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 3.387
4. Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 4.616
5. Néstor Girolami (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 6.245
Championship points
1. Y. Ehrlacher 103 pts; 2. S. Urrutia 101; 3. JK. Vernay 87
Picture: WTCR/DPPI
