Yet another win for Azcona takes him a step closer to the title

Mikel Azcona took his second win of the weekend – his fifth of the season – in TCR Europe’s Race 2 at the Nürburgring, beating his closest rival in the title fight Franco Girolami. After a penalty was given to Teddy Clairet for an overtaking move on the final lap, Jack Young was classified third and so completed the podium places.
At the start, Young, who was on pole, was first to Turn 1. Viktor Davidovski made a poor start from second on the grid and was passed both by Jáchym Galáš and a hard-starting Azcona who had already made up two places by the first corner. There was then contact between Davidovski and Galáš coming out of Turn 3, with the Macedonian driver half-spinning and dropping out of the top ten. This meant that Girolami was up to P4 after starting from the fifth row of the grid.
On Lap 2, Girolami passed Galáš for third going into Turn 1 while Azcona had closed up on Young. On the next lap, Azcona easily passed Young to take the lead with Girolami then diving up the inside of Young at the same place on the following lap to move into second. It then seemed as though we were set for a repeat of the great battle between Azcona and Girolami that was seen in Race 1, but it never materialized.
Behind the leaders, however, there were some thrilling scraps. On Lap 4, Niels Langeveld and Nicolas Baert both passed Isidro Callejas for P7 and P8 respectively, while Dušan Borković also tried to pass the young Spaniard, but Callejas held the position. There was also a four-way fight going on just outside the top ten, with Davidovki going sideways on Lap 5, allowing Sami Taoufik to move up into twelfth position. 
On the following lap, Young was starting to defend his third place from Galáš, with Teddy Clairet and Klim Gavrilov also within striking distance. When Galáš attacked Young on Lap 8, Teddy Clairet saw a gap and passed Galáš for P4. Gavrilov then ran wide, which meant Langeveld could pass for sixth place. Galáš briefly nosed ahead of Clairet again on Lap 9, but left the door open a fraction and Langeveld was able to move up another place. Borković, meanwhile, finally passed Callejas for ninth.
On the final lap, with Azcona and Girolami on course to finish first and second, Teddy Clairet muscled his way past Young to take the chequered flag in third place. After the race, however, the Stewards handed a penalty that dropped him to seventh, which meant Young could claim a podium finish in third with Langeveld fourth, Galás fifth and Gavrilov sixth. 
The result means Azcona extended his lead in the standings over Girolami to 37 points, with Langeveld now a further 51 points behind. Two more events remain, so 180 points are still potentially available; the next will take place at Monza, September 24/26

Nürburgring – Race 2
1. Mikel Azcona (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 11 laps
2. Franco Girolami (PSS Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R Fk7), 3.618
3. Jack Young (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R Fk7), 18.138
4. Niels Langeveld (Sébastien Loeb Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 18.428
5. Jáchym Galáš (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 18.704

Championship points
1. M. Azcona 316 pts; 2. F. Girolami 279; 3. N. Langeveld 228

Picture: TCR Europe