Norbert Michelisz

Esteban Guerrieri rose from third on the grid to win Race 2 at WTCR Race of Germany as the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO burst into action on race day at the Nürburgring Nordschleife on Saturday morning.

The ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR led from the first lap to beat reverse-grid DHL Pole Position starter and Nordschleife rookie Pepe Oriola.

“Between the driving flat out on the Nordschleife and the celebration which I had planned for a while I am quite excited and tired,” said Argentinian Guerrieri after his first win of the season, the sixth different winner of the season. “It was a tough race.

“We knew what was our strong points on the Civic Type R and what were the weak points so we pushed for the strong. I did a very good start and we managed to take P1. I controlled the race in a certain way from the guys. Yesterday we couldn’t find a good balance. But last night we looked after every detail and made the car as good as it was yesterday. We pushed and here we are. P1.”

Team OSCARO by Campos Racing’s Oriola made a clean start from the DHL Pole Position in his Cupra TCR, but fellow front row starter René Rast struggled away with a clutch problem and was down to fourth by T2. At the next left-hander the wildcard entry then clashed with Rob Huff’s Volkswagen and speared off the track. Huff limped back to the pits, but two potential race winners were out.

At the front, Guerrieri made the decisive move on Oriola to lead before the field headed out on to the Nordschleife, from a fast starting Yvan Muller, up from seventh on the grid. Thereafter, Guerrieri controlled his pace to score a convincing win from an impressive Oriola, who drove brilliantly to score his best WTCR result.

Down the field, there was further drama on lap 1 when championship leader Gabriele Tarquini crashed out, after contact with Gordon Shedden’s Audi. The Italian, who also hit the barriers in Race 1, looks unlikely to start Race 3 to complete a disastrous weekend for the BRC Racing Team veteran.

As the field completed lap 1, Guerrieri led from Oriola who was doing well to hold off the YMR Hyundai of Race 1 winner Muller. Belgian Frédéric Vervisch was running fourth in his Audi, ahead of Yann Erhlacher, Norbert Michelisz and Jean-Karl Vernay.

Another major casualty at this stage was Thed Björk. The Swede pulled into the pits at the end of the first lap after contact. His YMR team checked the Hyundai over before sending him back out. Björk is due to start Race 3 from the DHL Pole Position.

Guerrieri consolidated his lead from Oriola as they ended lap 2, but there was a great scrap going on behind them. Vervisch’s Audi drafted past Muller on the long Döttinger Höhe straight, but the four-time World Touring Car Champion got a great run out of Turn 2 at the start of the third and final lap to slip back into third place under braking into Turn 3.

However, Vervisch wasn’t about to give up. The Audi Sport Team Comtoyou driver tracked Muller throughout that final lap and was perfectly placed to once again draft past the Hyundai down Döttinger Höhe to claim a well deserved podium finish.

Behind them, Michelisz pulled an identical move on Ehrlacher to snatch fifth place.

Vernay claimed seventh, while Shedden survived his moment with Tarquini to finish eighth in his Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team entry.

Comtoyou Racing’s Nathanaël Berthon was P9 in his Audi, while Mehdi Bennani completed the top 10 in his Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

Via FIA WTCR