Hungary WTCR: Girolami holds off Muller to win

Munnich Motorsport Honda driver Girolami held off Muller at the start of the race and maintained the lead from there to claim only his second World Touring Car victory, and first for 18 months.

Girolami launched his Civic Type R well off the line but was quickly forced to move over to the right to block the faster-starting Muller on the run to the first corner.

After that, the Honda's edge in a straight line always made a Muller attack unlikely, and Girolami unchallenged to the finish - with victory promoting him to third in the standings.

Muller's second position was briefly threatened by the second Munnich Motorsport Honda of Esteban Guerrieri, who got close to the Cyan Racing car approaching the first corner on lap 10 of 12.

Guerrieri took a wider approach into the corner than Muller, who took a more defensive apex, which allowed Guerrieri to get alongside the Lynk & Co car on the run to Turn 2.

But Muller resisted Guerrieri by hugging the inside line and, despite the Honda getting close again on the final lap, held on to claim second and his first podium of the season.

Behind Guerrieri, who reclaimed the points lead by finishing third, the battle for fourth was effectively settled by a mid-race altercation between the WRT Audi RS3 LMS of Jean-Karl Vernay and Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co).

Ehrlacher had taken advantage of a Guerrieri move to reclaim third from Aurelien Panis on the opening lap by also working his way past the Comtoyou Cupra, but spent the following laps defending from Panis.

Both had been ahead of Vernay, but he got the jump on Panis and Ehrlacher at the start of lap five, going around the outside of the Lynk & Co at Turn 2.

Ehrlacher positioned himself on the outside line for the Turn 3 right-hander but was hit by Vernay's Audi as the Frenchman went to take the racing line through the corner.

That left Vernay in a clear fourth place - which he held until the finish - but forced Ehrlacher to hobble his car back to the pits with left-rear suspension damage.

Panis was fifth from the Comtoyou Audi of Frederic Vervisch, while Thed Bjork was seventh in his Lynk & Co ahead of the lead Volkswagen Golf GTI of Johan Kristoffersson.

BRC Hyundai pair Augusto Farfus and Norbert Michelisz completed the top 10, though only after Farfus had made contact with the PWR Cupra of Daniel Haglof at the Turn 6/7 chicane.

Race 1 results:

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Gap
1	Nestor Girolami	Honda
2	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	0.475
3	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	0.926
4	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	1.846
5	Aurelien Panis	Seat	2.265
6	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	2.851
7	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	3.446
8	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	4.038
9	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	4.907
10	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	5.259
11	Daniel Haglof	Seat	8.867
12	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	11.562
13	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	13.175
14	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	13.762
15	Attila Tassi	Honda	15.303
16	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	15.871
17	Mikel Azcona	Seat	17.004
18	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	17.295
19	Tom Coronel	Seat	17.654
20	Niels Langeveld	Audi	18.294
21	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	18.514
22	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	18.819
23	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	19.064
24	Tamas Tenke	Seat	31.037
25	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	1'16.834
26	Gordon Shedden	Audi	6 Laps
27	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	7 Laps
View full results