Portugal WTCR: Michelisz closes in on Guerrieri with win

Michelisz’s second victory of the season and a non-score for Guerrieri now means that just 15 points separate the pair, with Guerrieri having arrived in Portugal with a 45-point margin.

From pole, Michelisz got off the line well to lead comfortably into the first corner from BRC Hyundai teammate Augusto Farfus and Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher.

Farfus’ defensive efforts allowed Michelisz to open up a four-second advantage, with the latter easily rejoining from the mandatory joker lap in the lead.

Ehrlacher leapfrogged Farfus after taking his joker a lap after the Brazilian to claim third, with Farfus just hanging onto the final step of the podium from the Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen of Rob Huff.

The tight confines of the 4.79-kilometre street circuit did not produce any repeats of last year’s crashes, with the field managing to get through the first laps unscathed.

Defending WTCR champion Gabriele Tarquini did however collect the Munnich Motorsport Honda of local driver Tiago Monteiro, putting both into the tyre barriers.

Tarquini pitted soon after and retired, while Monteiro finished a lowly 23rd, just one place ahead of Guerrieri who suffered a nightmare race.

The Argentinean only qualified 19th after struggling to find a clear track and made little progress up the field in the early laps.

He was running in the points in 13th before slowing round the back of the circuit, losing several places in the process. The Honda driver made it to the finish, but was left to rue a significantly reduced points lead.

Behind the top three finishers, Huff finished a close fourth behind Farfus, with the VW proving faster towards the end of the race. 

He finished ahead of the third BRC Hyundai of Nicky Catsburg and the Comtoyou Cupra of Aurelien Panis.

Nurburgring Race two winner Johan Kristoffersson claimed seventh after electing to take his joker lap in the closing laps to edge fellow Swede Thed Bjork.

Yvan Muller made it three Cyan Racing Lynk & Cos in the top 10 with ninth place, beating Team WRT Audi’s Jean-Karl Vernay.

Team Mulsanne’s Ma Qinghua finished 14th after bogging down heavily from his fifth-place starting position. The Alfa Romeo driver was swallowed up as the lights went out, but showed plenty of pace at the end to claim two points.

Results:

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Gap
1	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	11
2	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	11	2.291
3	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	11	3.009
4	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	11	3.538
5	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	11	7.630
6	Aurelien Panis	CUPRA	11	8.437
7	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	11	10.344
8	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	11	11.349
9	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	11	16.051
10	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	11	17.248
11	Nestor Girolami	Honda	11	19.081
12	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	11	22.000
13	Mikel Azcona	CUPRA	11	22.775
14	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	11	23.735
15	Niels Langeveld	Audi	11	26.254
16	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	11	28.016
17	Gordon Shedden	Audi	11	29.525
18	Tom Coronel	CUPRA	11	29.757
19	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	11	30.743
20	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	11	32.409
21	Attila Tassi	Honda	11	33.515
22	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	11	34.014
23	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	11	40.051
24	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	11	53.762
25	Daniel Haglof	CUPRA	11	53.926
26	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	6	5 Laps
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