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Race report
WTCR Slovakia

Slovakia WTCR: Tarquini retakes points lead with Race 2 win

Gabriele Tarquini cantered to victory in the reversed-grid World Touring Car Cup race at the Slovakia Ring to reclaim the points lead from fellow Hyundai driver Yvan Muller.

Gabriele Tarquini, BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR
Tom Coronel, Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR
Gabriele Tarquini, BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR
John Filippi Team OSCARO by Campos Racing Cupra TCR
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
Yvan Muller, YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR
Gabriele Tarquini, BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR
Kevin Ceccon,Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR
Rob Huff, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
Aurélien Comte, DG Sport Competition Peugeot 308TCR
Nathanaël Berthon, Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS

Tarquini did the hard work at the start and nosed ahead of polesitter Norbert Nagy into the first corner before easing clear at the front of the field, beating Nagy and Muller home.

Having struggled away from pole in Saturday's first race, BRC Racing driver Tarquini made a much better getaway in the second encounter, holding onto the inside line from Nagy and fending off a spirited challenge from the Zengo Motorsport driver as they came out of the second right-hander.

Tarquini's route to victory was straightforward thereafter, the Italian slowly eking out a lead from Nagy over the remaining nine laps to win by 2.150 seconds.

Nagy, who had not previously scored a point this season, initially came under pressure from Muller's YMR Hyundai but shook off the four-time World Touring Car champion's challenge to claim a maiden podium.

Race one winner Pepe Oriola brought his Campos Racing SEAT home in fifth, at the head of a four-car train.

Benjamin Lessennes was the highest-finishing Honda in sixth, but his car was one of three Hondas found to have exceeded its maximum boost pressure after qualifying - just as three of the four WTCR Hyundais had been a day earlier.

Both Munnich Motorsport and Boutsen Ginion protested against those decisions, which caused the start of the race to be delayed and meant the grid was based on the result of qualifying - with the three Hondas in their original reversed-grid positions.

John Filippi made it two Campos SEATs in the top six, resisting Norbert Michelisz - who produced a late charge through the field - by 0.003s.

Comtoyou Racing's Frederic Vervisch was the only Audi driver to finish in the points, ahead of the Munnich Motorsport pair of Esteban Guerrieri - whose car was another one of the three Hondas deemed non-compliant after qualifying - and Yann Ehrlacher.

Muller's YMR teammate Thed Bjork fell just short of the points, advancing from 19th on the grid to 11th, ahead of Kevin Ceccon - who finished half a second shy of the points on only his second WTCR start. 

Race 2 Results:

Cla#DriverCarGap
1 30 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Hyundai  
2 8 HUN Norbert Nagy Seat 2.150
3 48 FRA Yvan Muller Hyundai 3.354
4 74 ESP Pepe Oriola Seat 4.750
5 63 BEL Benjamin Lessennes Honda 5.313
6 27 FRA John Filippi Seat 5.892
7 5 HUN Norbert Michelisz Hyundai 5.895
8 22 BEL Frederic Vervisch Audi 13.578
9 86 ARG Esteban Guerrieri Honda 14.194
10 68 FRA Yann Ehrlacher Honda 14.540
11 11 SWE Thed Björk Hyundai 14.851
12 31 ITA Kevin Ceccon Alfa Romeo 15.084
13 23 FRA Nathanaël Berthon Audi 15.300
14 7 FRA Aurélien Comte Peugeot 18.201
15 88 ITA Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 18.330
16 66 HUN Zsolt David Szabo Seat 20.283
17 52 GBR Gordon Shedden Audi 21.177
18 70 SVK Mato Homola Peugeot 21.606
19 20 BEL Denis Dupont Audi 28.527
20 17 SVK Andrej Studenic Volkswagen 28.904
21 44 CZE Petr Fulin Seat 1 Lap
  25 MAR Mehdi Bennani Volkswagen 4 Laps
  12 GBR Rob Huff Volkswagen 4 Laps
  21 FRA Aurelien Panis Audi 4 Laps
  69 FRA Jean-Karl Vernay Audi 5 Laps
  9 HOL Tom Coronel Honda  

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