Second win for Ehrlacher, first podium for the Peugeot
Yann Ehrlacher took his second win of the season in a Race 1 at Zandvoort that started with a spectacular accident between the Hyundai cars of Norbert Michelisz and Yvan Muller.
For the second time this year, the young Frenchman of All-Inkl Münnich Motorsport imposed his Honda Civic; the DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 of Aurélien Comte finished second and this was the first podium finish for the both the car and the 2017 TCR European champion. Rob Huff took third at the wheel of the Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI. None of the top-four drivers in the standings prior to this round (Muller, Gabriele Tarquini, Thed Björk and Michelisz) scored points today.
Ehrlacher took the lead at the lights, ahead of Comte who took a great start from seventh on the grid, Huff who had a poor kick-off from the pole, Gordon Shedden and Benjamin Lessennes (who jumped the start, as did Bernhard van Oranje). Drama struck when Michelisz went wide at Hugenholtzbocht and collected Muller. Both went off the track, with the Frenchman’s car perched precariously on the guardrail. The incident resulted in the race being red-flagged.
At the re-start, positions remained unchanged, but Frédéric Vervisch went off after stealing fifth from Lessennes. Both the latter and van Oranje had to serve a drive-through for jump-start.
Ehrlacher managed to pull away, while Comte defended second from Huff and Shedden. Jean-Karl Vernay and Esteban Guerrieri were right behind, while Tom Coronel was leading the mid-fielders in seventh position.
On lap 10, Shedden attempted an overtaking manoeuvre on Huff at the Tarzan bend, but Huff reclaimed the position at the exit of the corner. The safety car was deployed again after Dávid Zsolt Szabó and Fabrizio Giovanardi made contact and the Italian’s Alfa Romeo stopped along the wall at Turn 2.
The race resumed with only two laps left, Comte tried to threaten Ehrlacher’s lead but was never in the position to attack. It was a 1-2 finish for the two young Frenchmen ahead of Huff, Shedden, Vernay and Guerrieri, with Coronel taking 7th in front of his home crowd.
Muller is still leading the standings with 137 points, while Ehlracher has joined Gabriele Tarquini in second place with 118.
WTCR will return to action tomorrow morning for the second Qualifying session at 8:30.
