Urrutia beats Huff in the second WTCR race in Hungary

In the WTCR second race at the Hungaroring, Santiago Urrutia claimed his and Lynk & Co’s first victory of the season. Urrutia led from the start to the chequered flag, resisting the pressure from Zengő Motorsport’s Rob Huff and moving into third in the standings, 15 points behind Mikel Azcona. Néstor Girolami finished third, reducing his gap behind the leader to ten points.

At the start, Urrutia led from the pole ahead of Huff, Girolami and Norbert Michelisz, with Ma Qing Hua and Gilles Magnus following in fifth and sixth positions. In lap 3, the battle among the mid-fielders resulted in a series of clashes between turns 11 and 13 that involved Dániel Nagy, Thed Björk, Mehdi Bennani and Tom Coronel. The Hungarian got the worst of it and lost a rear wheel.

Up front, two battles developed: Urrutia and Huff for the lead, Girolami and Michelisz for P3, with Ma who was closing the gap to them.

In lap 6, Nathanaël Berthon and Azcona overtook Esteban Guerrieri moving up to eighth and ninth respectively. The Argentine was closely chased by Yvan Muller and Bennani, but at the beginning of lap 7, Bennani attempted an overtaking move at T1, and made contact with Muller. Bennani’s Audi stopped in the run-off area with a broken front suspension, which prompted the safety car into action.

Racing resumed in lap 9, with Berthon and Azcona delivering a thrilling fight for the eighth place. In lap 12, Yann Ehrlacher overtook Magnus and moved into P6.

Despite his efforts, Huff could not get close enough to Urrutia to make a move and finished second, less than four tenths behind the Uruguayan, while Girolami kept Michelisz at bay to grab the final podium spot.

The WTCR will resume in two-week time at MotorLand Aragón.

Hungaroring – Race 2
1. Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03), 14 laps
2. Rob Huff (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.380
3. Néstor Girolami (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 2.048

Championship points
1. M. Azcona 85 pts; 2. N. Girolami 75; 3. S. Urrutia 69

Picture: FIA WTCR/DPPI