Azcona wins again to take points lead
Mikel Azcona staked his claim to a first World Touring Car Cup title by leaping to the top of the standings with his second win of the year at a sweltering Hungaroring.
The 25-year-old Spaniard replaced retired tin-top legend Gabriele Tarquini at BRC Squadra Corse this season and is proving himself worthy of following in the great man’s wheeltracks. He took his first pole position of the year in the Hyundai Elantra N TCR on Saturday, then stroked to a comfortable race-one victory. The result knocked Munnich Motorsport’s Nestor Girolami off the top as the Hondas, carrying 40kg of success ballast, struggled to be competitive. The Argentine finished where he started in seventh.
Reigning double champion Yann
Ehrlacher chased Nathanael Berthon all the way, then pounced on the penultimate lap to take second place when the Comtoyou Audi driver made a small mistake. Track limits were a hot topic all weekend, with
41 lap times deleted in the two free practice sessions alone. Berthon smarted at warnings about his transgressions during the race, which maybe put him off, while he also struggled with tyre life.
At least the Goodyear rubber was deemed fit to race this time. Two weeks after the embarrassing race cancellations at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the supplier brought a lightly modified tyre to be used only on the fronts at the Hungaroring following mid-week tests at the Slovakia Ring. The new tyre suited some cars better than others, Azcona expressing how “amazing” his tyres were in his serene drive to victory.
The partially reversed-grid second race was much more exciting, largely thanks to Rob Huff’s dogged chase of pole position starter Santi Urrutia. The Zengo Motorsport Cupra driver never let up, Huff frustrated by a safety car intervention just as he was planning a move for the lead. Mehdi Bennani, who was robbed of the chance to start from his hard-earned pole position at the Nurburgring by the race cancellations, ended up stranded with a broken left-front wheel after Yvan Muller closed the door on him at Turn 1.
Urrutia made a peach of a restart, but still Huff hounded him all the way to the flag. “This was the race of my life,” said an elated Urrutia, who also won here last season. “I could not make a mistake because I knew Rob was quick. The restart is what gave me the win, although I had to push. During the safety car my engineer said it’s hard to overtake here, but I replied, ‘Yeah, that’s because you are not in the car’. It was very intense, every lap.”
Huff was also smiling, having delivered Zengo a podium on home soil a year after he crashed out and blew a chance to start from pole position. “I threw everything at Santi,” said Huff. “He deserves his dinner tonight because that was one of the highest pressure races I have been involved in. It was mega.”
Girolami was grinning too after holding off local hero Norbert Michelisz for third, following big set-up changes that worked out well for the second race. Azcona only finished eighth from 10th on the grid, allowing Girolami to claw back some of his lost points lead. He only trails Azcona by 10 points, with Urrutia a further six back, six more ahead of Ehrlacher.