Ehrlacher holds the course

If the Most weekend in the Czech Republic was not exciting on the track, it had the merit of having shaken up the chessboard and redistributed the cards in the WTCR general classification. Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk&Co) held firm, he remains leader of the World Touring Car Cup before the Pau-Arnos round next week.

Published on 10/10/2021 à 20:45

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This Sunday, the WTCR will have seen its 10th winner in as many races contested. They are Nestor Girolami (Honda civic Type-R) and Norbert Michelisz (Hyundai Elantra N) which won today. These new winners have only further revived the fight for the lead in the World Cup. The competitors experienced varying fortunes. The one who managed this situation best was once again the outgoing winner: Yann Ehrlacher. Without ever panicking, the Alsatian driver was able to settle for places of honor which allowed him to remain calm for the rest of the debates. Third in the first and fourth in the second, he above all managed to stay out of the chaos at the start. At each round, it took the intervention of the safety car (and even a red flag) to restore order in the peloton.

Urrutia and Vernay lose big

In these misadventures, Santiago Urrutia (2nd in the ranking upon arrival) dropped big points in Most. The Uruguayan knew his weekend would be complicated from qualifying when he was eliminated in Q1 on Friday. 15th at the start of each race, Urrutia found himself at the heart of the pack and in the middle of trouble each time. Although he managed to finish the first race in a distant 12th place, his second race was brief and ended in the gravel trap following rough contact with Gabriele Tarquini (Hyundai Elantra N). Urrutia is now fourth overall, 30 points behind Ehrlacher. Jean-Karl Vernay also had a complicated day, 6th in the first round. In the other race, he paid cash for an error by his team (the car was left without its wheels 3 minutes from the start of the race), JK crossed the checkerboard in 14th position (after having suffered a drive-through) , he is 5th overall, 33 points from the lead.

Good mention for Muller and Berthon

The two French people “did the job” this weekend. If Nathanael Berthon (Audi RS3 LMS) was eliminated in the big crash of the first round, he made up for it by finishing 5th in the

race 2 in the exhausts of Guerrieri and Ehrlacher. This performance can give Berthon hope of doing well for his national race on the Pau Arnos turnstile. Yvan Muller was consistent, narrowly avoiding the big box in the first race, he finished this round in 4th place. Heckled again at the start of the next one, Muller showed himself diligently to score as many points as possible for his employer. He crossed the finish line in 6th position. We will have to reckon with Yvan for this end of the season. Why not next week on a track where he hasn't raced since 1991!

Guerrieri and Azcona: the comeback

They had both promised that this end of the season would be for them. Esteban Guerrieri (Honda civic Type-R) and Mikel Azcona (Cupra leon) did not disappoint. The Argentinian is the driver who scored the most points this weekend with 43 more points to his account. His rise in the standings is spectacular, he is second behind Ehrlacher's Lynk & Co at 20 points. Azcona had a spectacular weekend, poleman, winner and European championship on Saturday, the young Spaniard hoped to take advantage of this dynamic to relaunch in WTCR: 8th and 2nd at Most. It is obvious that there is a new competitor to take into account with the two-time TCR Europe champion. Yann Ehrlacher will have to be wary of the official Cupra driver, Azcona has found the trigger.