Rodrigo Baptista formally dropped out of contention for the inaugural PURE ETCR drivers’ title at Pau-Arnos on Friday, as CUPRA drivers won three of the first four battles.
Thursday night’s draw split the drivers into two groups of six, where drivers would remain for the rest of the weekend.
In Pool A were drawn John Filippi, Dániel Nagy, Mikel Azcona, Oliver Webb, Luca Filippi and Augusto Farfus.
Pool B thus consists of Philipp Eng, Jean-Karl Vernay, Mattias Ekström, Rodrigo Baptista, Jordi Gené and Tom Chilton.
In championship terms, the most significant aspect is Vernay and Ekström being drawn into the same Pool, as the two, who sit atop the drivers’ standings with 273 and 244 points respectively, can now take points of each other.
Azcona is third in the standings with 238 points heading into the weekend, whilst Gené is more distant on 212 and Baptista, with 197 points, remains only in mathematical contention.
Azcona thus has a fantastic chance to close in on the points, as he sits on his own in Pool A whilst all four of his title rivals are in Pool B.
Round 1 – Battle 1/2
Pool A
The first battle of the weekend pitched the two CUPRAs of Azcona and Nagy against the Hyundai of John Filippi.
At the start, Nagy and Filippi went side-by-side into the first chicane, whilst Azcona made a poor start and followed in a distant third.
Filippi then seized the lead further around the opening lap with a brave move up the inside of Nagy at the Turn 10 chicane, with Azcona also getting into second at Turn 11 as Nagy was forced off line.
Azcona followed Filippi closely on lap two before making a move as they headed onto lap three, using his power-up more liberally than his rivals to seize the lead.
The trio then held station for the next two laps, giving Azcona the full points ahead of Filippi and Nagy, who had closed in on the Hyundai but couldn’t recover all of the ground he lost in the lap one passes.
“It was a difficult battle,” said Azcona. “I had to push a lot for the points. I had too much wheelspin in the beginning – I think that line on the track is not perfect. After that I had very good pace and was very comfortable with the car – the car allows me on this very special track to go very on the limit.”
In battle two, Farfus took on Luca Filippi and Webb, with the Hyundai on the inside line for the opening chicane.
However, yet again the Veloster was slow off the line, with Filippi leading Romeo Ferraris team-mate Webb through the first corners.
Farfus was all over the bumper of the Alfa Romeos in Turn 3 and he snuck up the inside of Webb for second at Turn 4.
On lap two Webb threatened Farfus for second heading to Turn 10, and in turn the Brazilian locked up and lost momentum, only just clinging on to second.
By the final lap three trio had bunched right uyp and contact between Farfus and Filippi came at the fast sweeping Turn 7 right-hander.
That threw Filippi off the road, as Webb leap-frogged both and into the lead momentarily, before Farfus got back on his powerup and took the lead into Turn 8 with slight contact.
Farfus eventually won the battle, but later had eight points deducted from his maximum battle score of 15 for the contact with Filippi, who came across the line in third.
“I honestly think that Augusto, who is a great guy, was driving a little bit recklessly through the whole race,” said Filippi after the battle. “He pushed me on lap one, and my floor was broken since lap one, so I didn’t have the best car compared to our potential, but also in the last lap I don’t think he had any space – it was like a pure intentional bump and go, which I don’t feel is the right way to race.”
“I could see that it was probably his weakest point on the track,” explained Farfus. “I reacted on the push-to-pass and he didn’t expect that. When he went to block, I was completely inside. He pushed me still over the grass. I was inside and he kept turning me into the grass. He only went sideways because he tried to turn when I was inside.”
Pool B
Ekström took on closest title rival Vernay and the Alfa Romeo of Eng in the first battle in Pool B, with the Swede holding the inside line at the start.
Ekström was aggressive into the fast first chicane as all three almost went side-by-side, and as Vernay had to yield Eng, with more momentum, pushed into the back of the Hyundai.
At the end of the opening lap Eng squeezed up the inside of Vernay at the final turn for second, and the two then spent the rest of the battle fighting for second.
Vernay eventually went around the outside at Turn 8 to claim second on the final lap, by which stage Ekström had scampered off over seven seconds ahead.
“We knew that lane one was not so great with the grip, so I was just trying to manage the grip we had and I was quite happy to make a good start and be leading into Turn 1,” said Ekström.
“There was a bit of scratching with Jean-Karl into Turn 1, but I managed to stay ahead and that was the most important.”
In the second Pool B battle, Chilton had the inside line, but the Brit had to yield to the CUPRA of Gené into the opening fast chicane.
Having had a look up the inside of Chilton at the final Turn 12 on lap two, Romeo Ferraris’ Baptista nailed the pass on the following lap, but ran out of time to close in on Gené, who ultimately claimed a straightforward win.
“I’m really happy because in this season, especially on Saturdays, I always had something, either contact with someone else or not a good position to start, something always happened,” said a relieved Gené.
“This time, I made the perfect start and the perfect first couple of corners, and I just heard on the radio ‘push, push, push – you have a chance!’ I just put my head down, forgot about my mirrors, and pushed.”
Although Gené mathematically remains in title contention, there are only 62 points up for grabs on Saturday and Sunday, and the Sapniard is 61 points adrift.
Ekström continues to lead the overall drivers’ standings with 288 points, 34 ahead of Vernay and 35 ahead of Azcona.
Track action resumes on Saturday in between the FIA World Touring Car Cup sessions, with the Round 2 battles in Pool A kicking off at 09:05 CEST (08:05 BST).