Mikel Azcona has claimed a crucial victory in the first race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Zhejiang Circuit.
The Spanish driver started from P2, took the lead after the first two turns and didn’t look back, speeding on the wet track throughout the 18-lap distance without making the slightest mistake.
Behind him, the pole sitter Norbert Michelisz had successfully covered his teammate but a slight mistake in T3 made him slip behind Urrutia and Ma Qing Hua. However, in the second half of the race, Michelisz had the fastest pace and was able to pass both Ma and Urrutia, completing a brilliant 1-2 finish for the BRC Hyundai team.
As far as the title fight is concerned, Azcona has stretched his lead over Urrutia from 25 to 33 points, while Michelisz lies third 18 further points behind.
At the start, Urrutia from P3 tried to squeeze among the two Hyundai cars on the front row, but Michelisz closed the door and Azcona took the lead. During the first lap, Urrutia muscled his way past Michelisz and Ma followed him, while Aurélien Comte kept Thed Björk at bay holding on P5 behind Yann Ehrlacher.
In lap 3, Björk overtook Comte and Jean-Karl Vernay passed Lo Sze Ho for the seventh place. Up front, Azcona increased the gap, while Michelisz closed in on the pair ahead starting to put the pressure on Ma who was covering Urrutia’s shoulders. However, in lap 8, Ma couldn’t prevent Michelisz from passing.
It was not the end of Michelisz’s attack as he caught up with Urrutia and overtook him for second place in lap 11. The pace of Urrutia’s car faded which resulted in a train of four Geely cars now chased by Comte’s CUPRA. Ehrlacher bid farewell to the company in lap 15, when he pitted to change a front tyre, while Ma who’s not scoring for the team, let Björk through into fourth place.
Azcona sailed across the finishing line 6.5 seconds ahead of Michelisz, with Urrutia a distant third; Björk, Ma, Comte and Vernay filled the positions between fourth and seventh, while Lo and Diego Moran rounded out the top ten winning the Guest Star Trophy and TCR Asia respectively.
The second race is due to start at 09:30 local time (02:30 CEST).
Race 1
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 18 laps
- Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 6.474
- Santiago Urrutia (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 10.431
Fastest lap: 1:45.184 Norbert Michelisz
Guest Star Trophy: Lo Sze Ho (Evolve Racing, Hyundai Elantra N)
Championship points
- M. Azcona, 413 pts.; 2. S. Urrutia, 380; 3. N. Michelisz, 362
Picture: WSC/Paddocker
