However, this time was Yann Ehrlacher who led the trio, outperforming his pole-sitting teammate Santiago Urrutia at the start, while Ma Qing Hua had a steady run to third to seal a perfect result for the Swedish team.
Urrutia started from pole but had a slow getaway and so tried to cover off Ehrlacher, forcing him to put a wheel on the grass, but the French driver was able to get ahead as their cars made door-to-door contact.
Through T2, Eric Gené dived down the inside of Ignacio Montenegro to try and take fourth from the Argentine, forcing him wide and into the tyre stacks at T3. Montenegro’s car sustained terminal damage and Gené who was running fifth was given a ten-second penalty, which was effectively redundant as he pitted with three laps to go, going on to rejoin a lap down. The battle for the positions made two other victims: Aurélien Comte and Mikel Azcona who had to pit for repairs, rejoining one and three laps down respectively.
Julien Briché and Marco Butti came together at T1 on lap 6, which resulted in Butti pitting, rejoining and stopping on circuit, causing a three-lap deployment of the safety car. At the restart, Ehrlacher held station at the lead, while Ma slipped down the inside of Urrutia at T1 but was ordered to give the place back a lap later and the three drivers continued in the order to the finish.
Norbert Michelisz was classified fourth, the best of the Hyundai cars, while Thed Björk made a strong recovery from tenth on the grid to finish fifth. Néstor Girolami crossed the line sixth ahead of the best-placed guest driver, Ruben Volt.
With the top ten reversed on the grid for Race 2, John Filippi will start from pole position ahead of Felipe Fernández and Esteban Guerrieri, who has lost the lead of the standings to Urrutia by two points, with Björk third, six further points adrift.
Drivers' quotes after Race 1
Yann Ehrlacher – 1st: “It’s never easy, but after the run to T1, I was just managing the tyres. I like to be in this position, as I could manage the tyre easily and the team gave me an amazing car, so it was about not doing mistakes until the end and stay calm. I will adapt the setup a bit for Race 2 and try to come back to the front, but without taking too many risks, as I need to finish races and score points.”
Santiago Urrutia – 2nd: “It’s OK, I have 30kg in the car. I’m struggling a bit at the starts as I don’t want to bog down, so I released the clutch too slowly. Pole position and P2 mean good points and if I can score big in Race 2 tomorrow, I have the chance to start in P1 for Race 3. It was just side-by-side touring cars at the start with me and Yann. After that it was difficult to overtake, it was too hot, and the tyres were being put through a lot.”
Ma Qing Hua – 3rd: “It was a good race, a good start, a good managing of the pace and with a full podium it couldn’t be any better. At the start, action was hot, I tried to dive down the inside but without doing anything crazy. (After the safety car) Santi made a mistake into T1 and I had to put myself on the racing line, and so I made the overtake, but after I gave the position back to him.”
Race 1
- Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 18 laps
- Santiago Urrutia (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 0.828
- Ma Qing Hua (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 1.852 ...
