Azcona and Björk win today in South Korea

It was a discovery, but the Inje circuit in South Korea is fast becoming a classic in the World Touring Car Cup. After a very good opening race, the second was just as hard-fought with action worthy of the great hours of the discipline. The victory in race 2 went to Mikel Azcona after dominating the race from pole position (acquired thanks to the reverse grid, Azcona having finished 10th the day before in C1). The Iberian driver was not able to fight for victory fairly due to the BoP which slowed down his Elantra considerably, but when he was given the opportunity to start from pole and without any opponents to thwart him, the Spaniard distanced himself from the turbulent TCR World Tour pack. The intervention of the safety car, in the final minutes of the race, did not disrupt the driver's domination Hyundai Motorsport, who won his second race of the season. The battle for podium places was more intense. It involved the contenders for the crown, Yann Ehrlacher, Thed Björk, and Esteban Guerrieri. The three men were separated by around forty points. Esteban Guerrieri once again put on a show by starting from 10th place following his victory the day before. The South American managed to climb back into the top five before the safety car. At the restart, the Argentinian once again showed his appetite and clashed with Qing Hua Ma, who was then in 3rd place. The Honda driver fell back to 4th place (the Chinese driver would finish 8th), opening the door for Ehrlacher, who seized this opportunity. The Frenchman then focused on staying in Björk's wake, which would give him his second place at the finish line. Azcona wins ahead of the Frenchman and the Swede. 

A wiser race 3 

As we head into this final Korean round, Erlacher has a 42-point lead over Guerrieri and a 47-point lead over Björk. This lead is becoming very interesting for the Frenchman, who will have to resist for two more weekends before winning his third World Cup in the discipline. This third round of the South Korean weekend was nevertheless the most reasonable of the two days of competition. Thed Björk is the last poleman and he shares the front row with Yann Ehrlacher, Guerrieri is a little further back in 5th place on the starting grid alongside Mikel Azcona. As we could have imagined, the first laps were rather tame between the two Lynk & Co. drivers. Ehrlacher nevertheless had to control the passion of the driver of the No. 86 Honda Civic. The ranking between the three strong men of the World Tour will not change during this round. In the peloton, there were some great battles for places in the points. Aurélien Comte made a strong comeback from 12th position, crossing the finish line in 7th. Norbert Michelisz was invisible all weekend, finishing 9th in this last Sunday race. 

In the TCR World Tour standings, Yann Ehrlacher has a 47-point lead over Thed Bjork. Despite a good weekend, Guerrieri was unable to close in on the Frenchman. The Honda driver will head to China with a 54-point deficit over Yann Ehrlacher. The end of the season promises to be exciting for the Frenchman, who is now not far from the goal. The next event will also be on a new track, Zhuzhou International Circuit in China, on October 31 and November 2. Three races are still scheduled.

TCR World Tour – Race 2 & 3 Results 

of course 2

of course 3

TCR World Tour - General Classification