Yann Ehrlacher has claimed his first win of the season, taking over the lead at the start from polesitter Mikel Azcona and cruising to victory in a race which was twice suspended behind the safety car.
Ehrlacher had the better start than Azcona and took the lead into the first turn, while Ma Qing Hua and Santiago Urrutia followed behind.
Jimmy Clairet managed to pass both SP Compétition CUPRA cars to move up to fifth, passing on the right side after the start as Aurélien Comte had moved over to try and get a run on Urrutia.
Everyone then held station, but just before the joker lap window was due to open at the end of lap 3, the safety car was called after Mathieu Casalonga crashed out at T4, taking heavy front-end damage to his Audi. The race resumed on lap 6, and those at the back of the field, as well as Norbert Michelisz who was now in ninth, took their first joker lap. Michelisz took his second joker lap straight away, as did a number of the midfielders.
There was then more trouble as Thed Björk and Jimmy Clairet collided on lap 9 at T12. There was just enough time before the safety car was called for the race leading group including Ehrlacher and Azcona to take their first joker lap, while Ma was able to join them through the joker lap loop and take his second. This dropped him behind team-mate Urrutia to fourth, but he was now the leading driver to have taken two joker laps.
The race resumed with just four laps to go, Ehrlacher took his joker lap along with Urrutia a lap after the restart and he fell behind Azcona, but Azcona took his a lap later and managed to get out just ahead of Urrutia in second. Ma had backed off enough to stay in fourth, ahead of Michelisz, whose near-perfect execution of the strategy helped him move from ninth to fifth. Viktor Andersson finished in seventh and was the ETS Guest Star Trophy winner.
Azcona’s second place moves him six points clear of Urrutia in the standings, while Ehrlacher is now tied in third with Michelisz, 48 points back.
Race 2 takes place at 17:05 (18:05 CEST).
Race 1
- Yann Ehrlacher (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 16 laps
- Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 0.988
- Santiago Urrutia (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 1.621
Fastest lap: 2:00.313 Yann Ehrlacher
ETS Guest Star Trophy: Viktor Andersson (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ)
Championship points
- M. Azcona, 216 pts.; 2. S. Urrutia, 210; 3. Y. Ehrlacher, 168
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
