Rob Huff took his first win of the season and the first World Touring Car Championship victory for his Münnich Motorsport team in race two at the Hungaroring.
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Poleman Mehid Bennani had initially led the field on the opening lap, but a huge crash at turn two involving Gabriele Tarquini and Franz Engstler brought out the safety car. Tarquini’s Honda was sent into the barriers on the exit of the corner after contact with Yvan Muller, with the Italian’s car bouncing back into the path of Engstler. Both drivers were taken to the medical centre as a result.
At the restart, Huff wasted no time in passing Bennani around the outside of turn one and, whilst the Brit was unable to open up a lead, he held on to take his first win of the season. Bennani’s second-placed result was his best-ever in the WTCC and only the Moroccans second-ever podium.
“That was a little bit different – you have to work a lot harder for it, that’s for sure,” said Huff after the race. “The car was faultless. Mehdi was putting some pressure on for sure but I just had the measure of him. I’m just so happy for the team.
“Points this year are like wins but to get a win is just amazing. It’s like my first win all over again.”
Scoring their best-ever result in the WTCC in third and fourth was bamboo engineering, with Alex MacDowall heading home James Nash. In the latter stages of the race Nash came under huge pressure from RML’s Yvan Muller, but the Frenchman had to settle for fifth.
Tom Coronel finished in sixth, having spent the race battling hard with Muller in front, and Tom Chilton behind. Coronel and Chilton swapped places several times during the race.
Local driver Norbert Michelisz finished in eighth, unable to make an impression on the cars in front despite pressuring Chilton hard late in the race.
Nika Racing’s Michel Nykjær and ROAL Motorsport’s Darryl O’Young completed the top ten.
Fredy Barth had looked set for his second points finish of the season while running in tenth before the Wiechers-Sport driver was served a drive-through penalty. The Swiss stopped in the pitlane entry before serving his penalty, however, and failed to finish the race.
Honda’s Tiago Monteiro had to start the race from the pitlane after his team were forced to make repairs due to a turbo boost problem following race one. The Portugese driver failed to make an impression during the race, finishing down in 13th.