Norbert Michelisz took his second win of the season in a thrilling second race at Vila Real, while he was able to make use of the joker lap to back Thed Björk into the pack and force him to drop down to seventh before the final lap.
Michelisz led the way at the start from pole in his Hyundai, while Jimmy Clairet was fighting to try and find his way past Jenson Brickley for second, with Björk biding his time in fourth behind the battling pair.
Clairet’s charge soon faltered due to a gearbox problem that he forced him to retire. There was also trouble for championship leader Mikel Azcona, who came into the pits with a mechanical issue on lap four.
With the joker lap window open from lap 3, many drivers took their first joker on laps 3 and 4, with Björk and his Geely Cyan Racing teammate Yann Ehrlacher two of the key exceptions.
On lap 5, Stian Paulsen crashed out at T14 causing a safety car, which saw every car quickly dive into the joker lap, with Michelisz emerging in the lead ahead of Brickley and Björk, but both drivers behind Michelisz still needed to serve their joker laps.
The race restarted on lap 8, with Brickley taking his joker lap on lap 10 and with the field bunched up he dropped five positions.
Björk was now pressuring Michelisz for the lead, but the Hungarian driver was clearly backing him up into the pack behind knowing the Swedish driver still needed to serve his final joker lap.
Despite making two attempts to pass Michelisz for the lead in the final laps, Björk had to back out and serve his joker lap on lap 15, which dropped him all the way down to seventh.
This promoted the two SP Compétition CUPRA cars of Viktor Andersson and Aurélien Comte to second and third. On the final lap, Andersson swapped positions with his new teammate who is competing in the full season but still scored his personal best result in the championship.
Michelisz’s win lifts him to third in the standings, just 32 points behind new points leader Santiago Urrutia, who finished fourth in a relatively quiet race, the best-placed of the Geely Cyan Racing team. Azcona got back out and picked up key points in 12th, despite finishing a lap down, and is just ten points behind Urrutia.
The next event takes place at Inje Speedium in South Korea after the summer break on October 2/4.
Race 2
- Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 16 laps
- Aurélien Comte (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.651
- Viktor Andersson (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.772
ETS Guest Star Trophy: Viktor Andersson (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ)
Championship points
- S. Urrutia, 230 pts.; 2. M. Azcona, 220; 3. N. Michelisz, 198
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
