Azcona had taken the points lead from Urrutia by setting the pole position, but a flashing start from Ehrlacher decided the result of Race 1, as the reigning champion only relinquished the first place briefly when he performed the joker laps. This was Ehrlacher first victory of the season, while Azcona's second place ahead of Urrutia meant the gap between them grew three to six points.
Michelisz had inherited the pole for Race 2 following a penalty handed to Thed Björk. The two of them put in an exciting fight that lasted until the last lap. Michelisz's decision to perform two joker laps in the early stages paid off, as Björk was obliged to delay his second joker until the last lap for not losing contact, which eventually promoted the SP Compétition pair of Aurélien Comte and Viktor Andersson to second and third.
With Azcona classified 12th after a visit to the pits for a technical issue, Urrutia's fourth place helped him to move back on top of the standings by ten points.
The World Tour now faces a three month break, as the cars are shipped to the Far East for the event in South Korea at Inje Speedium on 2/4 October.
Yann Ehrlacher triumphs in incident-packed Race 1
Yann Ehrlacher had the better start than Mikel Azcona and took the lead into the first turn, while Ma Qing Hua and Santiago Urrutia followed behind. Jimmy Clairet managed to pass both SP Compétition CUPRA cars to move up to fifth, passing on the right side after the start as Aurélien Comte had moved over to try and get a run on Urrutia.
Everyone then held station, but just before the joker lap window was due to open at the end of lap 3, the safety car was called after Mathieu Casalonga crashed out at T4, taking heavy front-end damage to his Audi. The race resumed on lap 6, and those at the back of the field, as well as Norbert Michelisz who was now in ninth, took their first joker lap. Michelisz took his second joker lap straight away, as did a number of the midfielders.
There was then more trouble as Thed Björk and Jimmy Clairet collided on lap 9 at T12. There was just enough time before the safety car was called for the race leading group including Ehrlacher and Azcona to take their first joker lap, while Ma was able to join them through the joker lap loop and take his second. This dropped him behind team-mate Urrutia to fourth, but he was now the leading driver to have taken two joker laps.
The race resumed with just four laps to go, Ehrlacher took his joker lap along with Urrutia a lap after the restart and he fell behind Azcona, but Azcona took his a lap later and managed to get out just ahead of Urrutia in second. Ma had backed off enough to stay in fourth, ahead of Michelisz, whose near-perfect execution of the strategy helped him move from ninth to fifth. Viktor Andersson finished in seventh and was the ETS Guest Star Trophy winner.
Quotes from the podium - Race 1
Yann Ehrlacher: “This is one of the toughest tracks on the planet, so ending up here on the podium is always nice. It’s back-to-back for me as I won the first race last year, but starting from P2 we knew it would more difficult. We had an 80% chance to win it on the launch, and 20% chance to win it on the joker lap. We also knew how difficult it is to follow cars around this track, so when I was in free air I went for the fastest lap to move up one place on the grid for Race 2. The safety car didn’t help, as I was about to go for a double joker which would have made our race a bit easier.”
Mikel Azcona: “I’m happy to be here as I had a technical issue on the warm-up lap and I had to go straight to the grid so the team could fix the problem. I was compromised in terms of warming up the tyres and building up the pressure. I was focussed on the start, I had a bit of wheelspin and lost a position to Yann, but then just focussed to bring the car home. The problem was that I had no brakes, in Paul Ricard you can be more relaxed with that, but here in Vila Real not so much, but the team fixed it, it was not 100% but we finished second which was like a victory.”
Santiago Urrutia, 3rd: “I was P4 in qualifying and P3 today, so we keep collecting points. There was not much I could do, I was expecting a mistake from Mikel, but it didn’t happen, so now we focus on Race 2. Even if you have good pace here, it’s impossible to overtake unless the guy in front makes a mistake. The only chances were the start and the joker laps. We did the jokers very well, and we’ve got another podium, so I’m very happy.”
Race 1
- Yann Ehrlacher (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 16 laps
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 0.988
- Santiago Urrutia (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 1.621 ...
Norbert Michelisz takes strategic win in Race 2
Norbert Michelisz led the way at the start from pole, while Jimmy Clairet was fighting to try and find his way past Jenson Brickley for second, with Thed Björk biding his time in fourth behind the battling pair.
Clairet’s charge soon faltered due to a gearbox problem that he forced him to retire. There was also trouble for Mikel Azcona, who came into the pits with a mechanical issue on lap four.
With the joker lap window open from lap 3, many drivers took their first joker on laps 3 and 4, with Björk and his Geely Cyan Racing teammate Yann Ehrlacher two of the key exceptions.
On lap 5, Stian Paulsen crashed out at T14 causing a safety car, which saw every car quickly dive into the joker lap, with Michelisz emerging in the lead ahead of Brickley and Björk, but both drivers behind Michelisz still needed to serve their joker laps.
The race restarted on lap 8, with Brickley taking his joker lap on lap 10 and with the field bunched up he dropped five positions.
Björk was now pressuring Michelisz for the lead, but the Hungarian driver was clearly backing him up into the pack behind knowing the Swedish driver still needed to serve his final joker lap. Despite making two attempts to pass Michelisz for the lead in the final laps, Björk had to back out and serve his joker lap on lap 15, which dropped him all the way down to seventh.
This promoted the two SP Compétition CUPRA cars of Viktor Andersson and Aurélien Comte to second and third. On the final lap, Andersson swapped positions with his new teammate, but still scored his personal best result in the championship.
Quotes from the podium - Race 2
Norbert Michelisz: “My race weekend wasn’t easy. My car felt good, but we had some technical troubles which made qualifying tricky. We did our best to avoid any kind of problems in the race and the mechanics did an amazing job yesterday changing my driveshaft in just four minutes in Q2. I’m very happy, as this is not an easy circuit to win at. I’m confident for the rest of the season and looking forward to travelling to the Far East. I was dominating the race in the beginning, but my strategy was: if I could make a gap, then make a joker lap as quickly as possible. However, at that moment you don’t realise how much life you take out of the tyres. At the end of the race, Thed had better pace than me, but there was no way I was going to let him past…”
Aurélien Comte: “The decision to swap positions at the end was for the championship. I’m very happy to finish second, and I thank Viktor for handing me the position. It’s all part of the game. Viktor did a very good job throughout this weekend. It was a fantastic addition to the team, and this result is also very good for the spirit of the team.”
Viktor Andersson: “I love it, it’s cool just to be here! We have had good pace this weekend and now to finish together with my teammate Aurélien is great. This is the best result of my career, we have been fighting for this for a long time, so I’m very, very happy! I think we have showed we belong here. Finishing with a podium here at my favourite track, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Race 2
- Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 16 laps
- Aurélien Comte (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.651
- Viktor Andersson (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.772 ...
Championship points
- Urrutia, 182 pts.; 2. M. Azcona, 176; 3. N. Michelisz, 150 ...
