Santiago Urrutia followed up his two victories in Races 1 and 2 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia to secure his third win of the weekend, becoming the first driver to win all three races in a single weekend of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour.
Urrutia started from the pole, thanks to the points earned earlier in the weekend, with Geely Cyan Racing teammate Thed Björk alongside him. Björk made a good start, but Urrutia was able to sweep over to the left-hand side of the track to cover him into T1 and lead the race.
From third on the grid, Aurélien Comte found himself under attack from the chasing Norbert Michelisz and Mikel Azcona, with both passing him before the end of the lap.
Ma Qing Hua was an early casualty, as he damaged the front of his car on the opening lap and retired on lap four.
Urrutia maintained a healthy gap to Björk, while Michelisz and Azcona ran a safe distance behind. Comte was running on his own in fifth, while Viktor Andersson was in sixth, defending against Yann Ehrlacher who was chasing points after an engine failure in Race 1 and a power steering failure in Race 2.
High temperatures meant following and passing cars became difficult, making the race largely processional. Urrutia secured his sixth career victory – half of them scored in this weekend – with Björk finishing.
On the final lap, BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse teammates swapped positions, allowing Azcona to finish third, reversing the swap from Race 2 which had resulted in Michelisz’s podium.
Urrutia now leads the championship standings on 140 points, 20 clear of Björk, with Azcona their closest rival just 29 points back.
The next event takes place at Circuit Paul Ricard in France on 4/5 July.
Race 3
- Santiago Urrutia (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 24 laps
- Thed Björk (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 1.582
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 3.658
ETS Guest Star Trophy:
Viktor Andersson (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ)
Championship points
- S. Urrutia, 140 pts.; 2. T. Björk, 120; 3. M. Azcona, 111
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-Avensimages
