Vernay takes his first win for Alfa Romeo in Aragón Race 1

Team Mulsanne’s Jean-Karl Vernay won the first WTCR race at Motorland Aragón, leading Santiago Urrutia and Gilles Magnus who completed the podium, while the reigning champion Norbert Michelisz was not able to convert his pole position into a victory. 
Vernay made a perfect start with his Alfa Romeo Giulietta and took the lead, while pole sitter Michelisz was trying to keep Magnus at bay and so let the door wide open to Vernay who grabbed the opportunity on the outside line and began to pull away. 
Championship leaders, Yann Ehrlacher and Esteban Guerrieri starting from 20^th and 16^th respectively began fighting from the first lap. 
At the end of lap 1, Urrutia moved into P2 ahead of Magnus and he then was able to keep the position until the end, claiming his first podium result in WTCR. 
During the second lap Michelisz dropped back to P8 and was involved in a series of fights with Yvan Muller and his Hyundai colleagues Luca Engstler and Gabriele Tarquini. 
Ehrlacher had to wait until the sixth lap to overtake Guerrieri for P12, the Argentine then lost another two places as he was passed by Tom Coronel and Nathanaël Berthon, although he eventually finished 13^th when Coronel stopped with a technical issue.
Up front Vernay managed to keep Urrutia at a safe distance and won the race by over eight tenths, with Magnus third ahead of Mikel Azcona who had passed Tarquini for fourth. Michelisz, Muller, Engstler, Bence Boldizs and Néstor Girolami rounded off the top-ten, while Ehrlacher successfully defended the 11^th position from Berthon. 
The victory propelled Vernay to P3 in the standings, 38 points behind Ehrlacher, while the second-placed Guerrieri has now a gap of 24 points from the leader. 
Race 2 takes place at 12:15 CET, with Azcona starting from pole position with Engstler alongside him.

Race 1
1. Jean-Karl Vernay (Team Mulsanne, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 10 laps
2. Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03), 0.881
3. Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.478
4. Mikel Azcona (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 4.661
5. Gabriele Tarquini (BRC Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N), 5.815

Championship points
1. Yann Ehrlacher 174 pts; 2. Esteban Guerrieri 150; 3. Jean-Karl Vernay 136 

Picture: WTCR/DPPI