Marrakesh WTCR: Tarquini wins after Catsburg crash

Tarquini had trailed BRC teammate Catsburg by a second in the first half of the race, but inherited top spot when the lead Hyundai man went off at Turn 10.

Catsburg was in the braking zone for the tight left-hander that leads onto the back straight and had just started to turn in when his i30 N car suddenly went to the right and into the barrier on the outside of the corner.

The recovery of Catsburg's car required the intervention of the safety car but, although that bunched the pack up, Tarquini effectively guaranteed himself victory by catching the rest out on the restart - breaking well clear of Jean-Karl Vernay's WRT Audi on the run to the penultimate corner.

The Italian had an advantage of two seconds when racing resumed on lap 15 of the extended 20-lap distance, and pulled a further 1.3s clear of Vernay in the final laps to claim victory.

Vernay had stayed with the leading Hyundais prior to Catsburg's crash, and ended up a comfortable second - six tenths ahead of Yann Ehrlacher's Cyan-run Lynk & Co 03.

As had been the case in Saturday's first race, Ehrlacher struggled to stay in touch with the cars he was following but was not troubled by the pursuing Esteban Guerrieri.

Race one winner and early points leader Guerrieri forfeited a position to the fast-starting Ehrlacher on the run to the first corner and, despite applying pressure in his Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R in the first part of the race, instead had to focus on fending off the leading Cupra of Mikel Azcona late on.

TCR Europe champion Azcona, who earlier in the day made the Q3 pole position shootout in only his second WTCR qualifying session, finished 0.155s behind Guerrieri.

Thed Bjork was two seconds further back in his Lynk & Co 03 but still ahead of teammate Yvan Muller, both of whom jumped eighth-place finisher Tiago Monteiro (KCMG Honda) at the start when the Portuguese got boxed in behind Azcona.

Race three polesitter Frederic Vervisch (Comtoyou Audi) and the second Munnich Honda of Nestor Girolami completed the top 10, while BRC Hyundai pair Augusto Farfus and Norbert Michelisz both gained three places from their starting positions to finish 11th and 12th.

Andy Priaulx brought the fourth Cyan Lynk & Co home in 13th ahead of the Comtoyou Cupra of Tom Coronel, while Gordon Shedden scored the final point in 15th.

Ma Qing Hua had been on course to finish 12th on his second start for the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo squad, but pitted with a puncture under the safety car and was classified 24th.

Race 2 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time/Gap
1	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	20	31'45.772
2	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	20	3.317
3	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co 03	20	3.991
4	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	20	4.514
5	Mikel Azcona	Seat	20	4.669
6	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co 03	20	7.064
7	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co 03	20	8.197
8	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	20	8.496
9	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	20	8.895
10	Nestor Girolami	Honda	20	9.439
11	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	20	9.870
12	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	20	11.109
13	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co 03	20	12.081
14	Tom Coronel	Seat	20	12.703
15	Gordon Shedden	Audi	20	13.109
16	Daniel Haglof	Seat	20	13.659
17	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	20	14.126
18	Niels Langeveld	Audi	20	14.831
19	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	20	15.184
20	Attila Tassi	Honda	20	16.358
21	Aurelien Panis	Seat	20	16.796
22	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	20	17.440
23	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	20	18.209
	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	13	7 Laps
	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	11	9 Laps
	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	9	11 Laps