Marrakesh WTCR: Guerrieri controls first race of 2019

Munnich Motorsport driver Guerrieri, who earlier on Saturday had claimed his and the team's first WTCR pole in his Honda Civic Type R, was pursued closely by Bjork throughout the race but always appeared to have the Lynk & Co covered.

Guerrieri's one real test came at the start as Bjork launched marginally better than him, but the polesitter hugged the inside line through the first corner and emerged clear of Bjork.

The Swede was never more than a second behind Guerrieri but did not attempt to unseat the Honda driver, who claimed his third WTCR victory by 0.638 seconds.

Bjork was closely pursued by Jean-Karl Vernay in the closing stages of the race, but the WRT Audi was demoted to seventh in the classification after nudging Andy Priaulx out of third under braking for the Turn 1 hairpin.

Priaulx, making his first World Touring Car start since the end of 2010, made an excellent getaway to jump Guerrieri's teammate Nestor Girolami for third through the opening sequence of corners, and was in sight of the leading duo when his Lynk & Co 03 was hit by Vernay on lap five of 18.

Vernay's penalty ultimately promoted Girolami to the final podium position, with reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini fourth in his BRC Racing Hyundai i30 N ahead of Priaulx and Tiago Monteiro - who made a fine start to his full-time return to the series in his KCMG Honda.

Frenchman Vernay was relegated into a lonely position in the classification, as the third Lynk & Co 03 of Yann Ehrlacher lacked the pace of the frontrunners.

Ehrlacher finished the best part of seven seconds behind Monteiro on the road, and had a significant train of cars behind him throughout the race.

He was followed across the line by WTCR debutant Mikel Azcona, but the TCR Europe champion picked up an identical penalty to Vernay for moving Norbert Michelisz aside at the first corner and dropped out of the points.

The top 10 was instead completed by Kevin Ceccon's Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce and Nicky Catsburg in his Lukoil-backed BRC Hyundai, with Michelisz and the lead Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI of Rob Huff next up.

Frederic Vervisch (Comtoyou Audi), Augusto Farfus and the second WRT Audi of Gordon Shedden completed the points.

Azcona's teammate Daniel Haglof had been an excellent eighth until he pitted at the end of lap 12.

He rejoined the race and remained on the lead lap, but was last of the 20 finishers across the line behind Yvan Muller - who qualified second but was sent to the back of the grid for an engine change - and Attila Tassi (KCMG Honda), who set the fastest lap.

Race results

Cla	#	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	18	26'18.929
2	11	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	18	26'19.567	0.638
3	29	Nestor Girolami	Honda	18	26'21.110	2.181
4	1	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	18	26'21.894	2.965
5	111	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	18	26'23.227	4.298
6	18	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	18	26'23.902	4.973
7	69	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	18	26'24.734	5.805
8	68	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	18	26'30.784	11.855
9	31	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	18	26'31.978	13.049
10	88	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	18	26'32.622	13.693
11	5	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	18	26'33.836	14.907
12	12	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	18	26'34.368	15.439
13	22	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	18	26'34.789	15.860
14	8	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	18	26'35.182	16.253
15	52	Gordon Shedden	Audi	18	26'35.865	16.936
16	96	Mikel Azcona	Cupra	18	26'36.233	17.304
17	33	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	18	26'39.617	20.688
18	100	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	18	27'09.142	50.213
19	9	Attila Tassi	Honda	18	27'10.827	51.898
20	37	Daniel Haglof	Cupra	18	27'35.280	1'16.351
	10	Niels Langeveld	Audi	13	20'04.198	5 Laps
	21	Aurelien Panis	Cupra	10	15'47.870	8 Laps
	55	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	8	12'15.129	10 Laps
	14	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	2	3'13.106	16 Laps
	25	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	1	1'43.537	17 Laps
	50	Tom Coronel	Cupra	1	2'09.199	17 Laps