World of Sport: WTCR; Pure ETCR; Australian Supercars; NASCAR Cup; ELMS; Euroformula Open
WTCR MOTORLAND ARAGON (ESP) 11 JULY ROUND 3/8
Frederic Vervisch and Gabriele Tarquini scored their first wins in the World Touring Car Cup for two years, as Comtoyou Audi bounced back from a disastrous start to its campaign with the new RS3 LMS to set the pace at a ‘scorchio’ Motorland Aragon.
Vervisch, who was forced to sit out the 2020 WTCR season, grabbed pole position for race two in the final run of the Q3 shootout, then led all the way on Sunday from Thed Bjork, the quickest of the Lynk & Co drivers in Spain. Gilles Magnus made it a Belgian and Audi 1-3 as he chased Bjork all race, but struggled to run close and stick a pass on the Cyan Performance-run car in temperatures that soared past 31C.
After making a clean start, Vervisch’s only concern was a safety car that was called upon to allow Tom Coronel’s stricken Audi to be wheeled away. “It was a really boring race for you guys watching, but I don’t care!” said the delighted winner. “I got a mega start. Thed was quicker in some places and I was quicker in others, but I was worried he was saving his tyres. The safety car I didn’t like, but it seemed we had more pace.”
Behind the top three, points leader Jean-karl Vernay consolidated his advantage with fourth despite complaining on his team radio of vibrations, echoed by fellow Hyundai driver Norbert Michelisz. The Hungarian, starting from fourth on the grid, slipped down the order until his right-front Goodyear failed on the penultimate lap. Nathanael Berthon finished fifth in his
Audi, ahead of Tarquini and reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher who has vaulted up to second in the standings in his Lynk & Co, eight points behind Vernay.
Behind Luca Engstler, Rob Huff won a typically fraught battle with old rival Yvan
Muller. The Briton’s Zengo Motorsport Cupra got the upper hand when Muller ran wide at Turn 1, but on the last lap the four-time World Touring Car champion tapped the Leon at Turn 8. Huff held a half-spin with style and somehow kept ahead of Muller to finish ninth.
Tarquini’s first victory since the Hungaroring in 2019 came from his second consecutive reversed-grid pole position in the WTCR, having qualified his Hyundai Elantra 10th on Saturday. The Italian, still fired up at a remarkable 59, lined up alongside home hero Mikel Azcona in his Cupra, then made a clean getaway to hold a lead he’d never lose. “I know that following another car, especially here, is quite hard,” he said. “Fortunately I built a small gap and after that it was quite an easy race to control.”
Coronel claimed Audi’s first podium of the season before his race-two retirement, as Comtoyou made the most of its rivals’ compensation weight disadvantage. The hardest hit were the quartet of Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type Rs that went from being the pacesetters at the previous rounds at Estoril to hopelessly off the pace in Spain. Such are the swings and roundabouts of Balance of Performance motorsport. Esteban Guerrieri was the best of the four, while Portugal race winner Attila Tassi’s weekend was derailed in the opening moments of qualifying when the connector to his fuel pump failed.