Azcona makes history as he takes first Pure ETCR victory
Mikel Azcona surged to an historic victory in the world’s first all-electric, multi-brand touring car series as Pure ETCR kicked off at Vallelunga.
Azcona and Zengo Motorsport X
Cupra team-mate Mattias Ekstrom were the dominant forces in Italy as they won five of the six ‘Battle’ races held in their e-racers, but both had to face their share of adversity along the way.
Placed in Pool A with five other drivers in Friday night’s random draw (Pure ETCR doesn’t do qualifying), Azcona won both of his Saturday ‘Battles’ on Vallelunga’s 1.06-mile ‘Club’ circuit to leap to the head of the standings, an achievement matched by Pool B leader Ekstrom. But disaster struck during Sunday morning’s single-lap Time Trials, the results of which would set the grid for the major points-paying pair of Superfinals later in the day.
Now competing on the longer 1.99-mile layout, Azcona failed to complete a lap after a puncture-induced spin, while Ekstrom was called into the pits by race control at the end of his ‘outlap’ after a potential car issue had been flagged. He was allowed to go out again at the end of the session, his time comfortably the quickest of the morning, but was later stripped of his Superfinal pole after his team were found to have breached parc ferme rules by working on the car during the session.
Azcona started last in Superfinal A, climbed to third, and was then gifted victory when the Hyundais of polesitter Augusto Farfus and Tom Chilton both retired with punctures (Goodyear insisting that the only tyre issues suffered across the weekend were by teams who did not follow its minimum-pressure guidance).
That left Ekstrom needing to win Superfinal B from the back to stand any chance of winning overall on a tiebreak. An epic drive that included a rallycross-style two-in-one move to pass first John Filippi (Hyundai) and then the unrelated Luca Filippi (Romeo Ferraris-m1ra Alfa Romeo) brought him to within 0.8s of victory.
Ekstrom therefore missed out on the overall runner-up spot to Superfinal B winner Jean-karl Vernay (Hyundai), leaving a delighted Azcona as the winner.
“We’ve been quick all weekend,” he said. “But starting last in the Superfinal, I wasn’t sure I could win. I had very good advice from the team on when to use the Power-up [Pure ETCR’S version of ‘push to pass’, which takes the 300kw power to 500kw for up to 40 seconds per race at Vallelunga] and it worked out.”
Jordi Gene – a Battle winner in round two – was second behind Cupra team-mate Azcona in Superfinal A, to seal fourth in the event overall. It marked a strong turnaround by the veteran Spaniard, who had been spun out of the lead fight in Saturday’s opening round by Rodrigo Baptista, for which the Brazilian was docked eight points.
Luca Filippi and Romeo Ferraris-m1ra Alfa team-mate Baptista hold fifth and sixth after each was third in their Superfinal.