Esteban Guerrieri won the final race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour season opener in Mexico City, this time in a more comfortable way than in Race 2. Thed Björk finished second ahead of his teammate Santiago Urrutia, while a standstill at the start and later a technical problem saw Yann Ehrlacher drop from third to 16th.
Guerrieri led the way from the pole ahead of Björk, while Ehrlacher bogged down from P3 and dropped to tenth. Aurélien Comte had a lightning start from fifth on the grid, diving around the sluggish Lynk & Co of Ehrlacher and moved up to third.
Mikel Azcona’s race effectively ended after a few corners following an incident with one of the ProRally Mothers CUPRA cars, and the Spaniard returned to the pits for repairs; he then rejoined the race three laps down.
Comte lost third to Santiago Urrutia on lap 2, while the hard chargers were now Ignacio Montenegro and Ehrlacher. Montenegro passed Michel Jourdain jr for sixth, before muscling his way past Ma Qing Hua on lap 4.
Ehrlacher was recovering ground and was quickly up to seventh, with Ma letting him through so he could continue his recovery. The race was then suspended for four laps behind the safety car when TCR México competitor Humberto Zesati spun and crashed out at T9.
When the race resumed, Ehrlacher suddenly began to lose pace and dropped down the order. The last key move was made by Montenegro who made his way past Comte for fourth with three laps to go.
Guerrieri won the race comfortably by two seconds over Björk, with Urrutia completing the podium. The Argentine now leads the drivers’ standings on 95 points, 12 clear of Björk, with Urrutia 26 behind.
The next round of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour takes place at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia on June 13/15.
Race 3
- Esteban Guerrieri (GOAT Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 18 laps
- Thed Björk (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 1.999
- Santiago Urrutia (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 3.240
Championship points
- E. Guerrieri, 95 pts; 2. T. Björk, 83; 3. S. Urrutia, 69
Picture: WSC/FPC
