Tom Coronel took an emotional victory in the second World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) race at the Slovakiaring, while Néstor Girolami’s bid to close the gap in the points standings resulted in a huge final lap accident.
Luca Filippi had been set to join polesitter Girolami on the front row of the grid, but a clutch problem for his Alfa Romeo meant that the Italian’s race was over before it had even started.
On a much dryer surface than in race one, Girolami got away well from the left-hand side of the grid but had to defend the inside line from Jean-Karl Vernay and Santiago Urrutia.
With everyone eager to make progress early on, lap one very quickly devolved into typical reversed-grid pandemonium.
Contact between Vernay and Urrutia caused the Uruguayan to exit stage left at turn one, and a slight tap on the rear from the Alfa compromised Girolami too. Esteban Guerrieri capitalised on this to pass his team-mate and take the lead before Girolami was swallowed up further by the cars behind.
A few rows back, Attila Tassi’s Honda was used as a pinball between two of the Hyundais and a Lynk & Co, with the ensuing contact sending Gabriele Tarquini off into the gravel as well.
The safety car was promptly deployed to recover the stricken Honda and Hyundai, leaving Guerrieri to emerge from the settling dust as the race leader, while Coronel and Gilles Magnus lined up behind him in second and third place respectively.
The race got back underway a few laps later, but it wasn’t long before disaster struck once again. Race one winner Nathanaël Berthon had been running strongly within the top ten, but away from the cameras the Frenchman plummeted out of contention.
Meanwhile on lap six, Mikel Azcona continued to make progress, getting the better of Norbert Michelisz for seventh position.
Then, at the final turn on lap eight, Coronel made a move for the race lead. With his entry onto the straight compromised, Guerrieri then became a sitting duck on entry to turn one, allowing Magnus to get by him for second as well.
Azcona meanwhile was involved in more action. Just a few car lengths behind the leaders, the Spaniard was involved in an almighty battle with Vernay and Nicky Catsburg for fifth position.
In the end, the battle culminated in a double overtake from Vernay to take fifth, and it wasn’t long before the Alfa Romeo driver had latched onto the back of the Honda duo up ahead.
It always looked inevitable that Vernay would go for the overtake, but on entry to turn one on the final lap, the battle quickly turned into disaster.
Having put the nose of his Alfa Romeo towards the inside of Girolami, Vernay could do nothing but raise his arms in despair as Girolami cut across the front of him.
As a result, the Argentine’s Honda span into the barriers with a great deal of force, ripping both wheels from the left side of the car in what was a very heavy impact. Luckily, the Argentine walked away without major injury.
At the front though, Coronel took a hugely popular victory after a barren few seasons in TCR machinery.
Magnus followed the Dutchman home in second place to make it an Audi 1-2, while Guerrieri completed the podium.
Vernay survived his coming together with Girolami to finish fourth, ahead of the CUPRA of Azcona in fifth.
Catsburg lost out in that little tussle, ending the race in sixth place with Hyundai stablemate Michelisz behind him in seventh.
Yann Ehrlacher and Yvan Muller limited the points damage for Lynk & Co in eighth and ninth, while Tiago Monteiro completed the top ten.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 26:33.749 | 2:12.298 | 7 |
| 2 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1.053 | 2:12.326 | 6 |
| 3 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 3.582 | 2:12.389 | 5 |
| 4 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 11 | 4.106 | 2:12.201 | 4 |
| 5 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 11 | 4.773 | 2:11.884 | 17 |
| 6 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 5.442 | 2:12.357 | 8 |
| 7 | 1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 6.473 | 2:12.602 | 9 |
| 8 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 7.554 | 2:12.762 | 15 |
| 9 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 9.561 | 2:13.063 | 14 |
| 10 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 9.982 | 2:12.998 | 13 |
| 11 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 10.473 | 2:13.063 | 19 |
| 12 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
VEXTA DOMY | CUPRA Leon Competición | 11 | 11.396 | 2:13.242 | 18 |
| 13 | 34 | Aurélien COMTE | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 11 | 12.014 | 2:13.053 | 20 |
| 14 | 55 | Bence BOLDIZS | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 11 | 13.075 | 2:13.113 | 16 |
| 15 | 12 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 15.161 | 2:13.036 | 3 |
| 16 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 16.837 | 2:13.831 | 21 |
| 17 | 99 | Gábor KISMARTY-LECHNER | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 11 | 58.080 | 2:15.826 | 22 |
| R | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | DNF | 2:12.329 | 1 |
| R | 17 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | DNF | 2:42.277 | 10 |
| R | 25 | Luca FILIPPI |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 2 |
| R | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 |
| R | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 |
