Jean-Karl Vernay treated French fans to a home win in the second FIA World Touring Car Cup race of the day, while behind him the battles amongst the rest of the pack were electrifying.
There was a quick turnaround for the second race at Circuit Pau-Arnos, with approximately an hour between the two events. Nevertheless, both the stricken cars of Yvan Muller and Tiago Monteiro were repaired in time to take the start, as was that of Jordi Gene.
Muller led the field away, but just as in race one, the Lynk & Co drivers suffered poor starts. Vernay was quicker from the front row of the grid, and snatched first position from Muller before the cars reached turn one.
Further back, Ehrlacher had an even worse time, dropping behind Nestor Girolami, Esteban Guerrieri and Frederic Vervisch as things got tight through the opening few corners.
Seizing the opportunity, Girolami then stood on the brakes at turn ten, allowing team-mate Guerrieri – and Honda’s best placed driver in the title race – through for fifth around the outside.
Seeing his title rivals stretch away from him, Ehrlacher was quick to try and take seventh place back from Vervisch on the following lap, sending it up the inside of the Audi at turn three. Contact was made, but the Belgian driver managed to keep control of his car and was rewarded with the advantageous inside line for turn five, allowing him to fend off the championship points leader for now.
A few laps later in the mid pack, there was a bit of a kerfuffle through sector three between Monteiro, Nathanael Berthon and Thed Bjork. Contact between the former two at turn ten opened the door for Bjork, resulting in the Swede going side-by-side with Berthon on the entry into the chicane. Berthon therefore had to straight-line the corner, and the status quo remained, with the Frenchman leading the trio in tenth.
At the halfway stage, Girolami was beginning to struggle, potentially with a slow puncture. This allowed Gabriele Tarquini to get a run on him at the exit of turn eleven, before getting the move done for eighth at the chicane.
Berthon also had a look at getting by the Argentine in the same sequence of play, but ended up being baulked by the slow Honda instead. This opened the door for Bjork to slide past the Frenchman, picking up two positions from the pair of them. Rob Huff also squeezed past Girolami for eleventh at turn fourteen, and it wasn’t long before Girolami returned to pit lane.
At the front of the field though, Norbert Michelisz was latched onto the back of Muller’s Lynk & Co, causing him to defend. As a result, Vernay had extended out a comfortable lead over his compatriot.
However, Michelisz suddenly began to drop back from the rear of Muller, complaining of a vibration from his car. Santiago Urrutia was onto the back of him like a flash. Contact at turn ten was followed up with more slight contact at turn five, but still the Hungarian was holding onto third.
It didn’t take long, however, for the next pack of cars to close in on this battle too. As a consequence of them bunching up, Vervisch took to the inside of Guerrieri at turn ten. Heading into the chicane, the Argentine refused to concede and contact pitched the Audi into a half-spin. The Belgian corrected his Audi, but behind, the pace differential meant that Ehrlacher had no choice but to tag the rear of Guerrieri’s Honda. Despite all of this, everyone still managed to keep running, although Guerrieri had dropped behind his title rival.
With Michelisz’s car still obviously hobbled, Urrutia was finally able to get by on the inside line at turn nine, while Vervisch also hung on around the outside of turn ten to go fourth.
With that, it was now up to Ehrlacher to dispatch with the wounded Hyundai, otherwise Guerrieri and everybody else would be right on his bumper. And that proved to be the case. The ever-aggressive Guerrieri forced his way up the inside of Ehrlacher, resulting in contact, causing Ehrlacher to cut the chicane while Guerrieri himself clipped the tyre stack on the inside. No damage was done, but the safety car was called to return the tyres to their original position.
With that, everyone was bunched back up together again for a one-lap sprint to the finish. The much-frustrated Vernay bolted ahead of Muller to regain as much of his lead as he could.
All eyes, however, would be on Ehrlacher. The Frenchman looked at getting by Michelisz’s stricken Hyundai at turn five, but contact saw his Lynk & Co get all crossed up. Guerrieri looked to capitalise but had to take to the grass on the exit of the bend. Keeping his foot hard down on the accelerator, he recovered and stuck the nose of his Honda up the inside of Ehrlacher into turn seven. More contact was made, pitching Ehrlacher slightly sideways but somehow everyone made it through unscathed.
Further contact followed at turn ten as Tarquini had a look up the inside of Guerrieri, but again no positions changed hands. Berthon looked to capitalise on the outside of Bjork who had been compromised, but a side-to-side whack from the Swede put an end to that.
At the front, Vernay held on for victory ahead of Muller and Urrutia, with race one winner Vervisch coming home in fourth.
In a drag race across the line, Ehrlacher finally managed to get by Michelisz for fifth; Guerrieri crossing the line in seventh. Tarquini, Berthon and Engstler rounded out the top ten.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 69 |  |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 22 | 22 LAPS | 1:20.584 | 2 | |
| 2 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 22 | 1.531 | 1:20.628 | 1 | |
| 3 | 12 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 22 | 2.457 | 1:20.957 | 4 | |
| 4 | 22 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 22 | 3.094 | 1:21.392 | 10 | |
| 5 | 68 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 22 | 7.855 | 1:21.334 | 5 | |
| 6 | 5 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 22 | 7.928 | 1:20.938 | 3 | |
| 7 | 86 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 22 | 9.237 | 1:21.206 | 6 | |
| 8 | 3 |  |
Gabriele TARQUINI | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 22 | 9.711 | 1:21.349 | 8 | |
| 9 | 11 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 22 | 10.149 | 1:21.300 | 9 | |
| 10 | 17 | |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 22 | 10.804 | 1:21.336 | 12 | |
| 11 | 8 |  |
Luca ENGSTLER | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 22 | 11.171 | 1:21.794 | 13 | |
| 12 | 18 |  |
Tiago MONTEIRO | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 22 | 11.701 | 1:21.378 | 11 | |
| 13 | 32 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 22 | 12.001 | 1:21.551 | 15 | |
| 14 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 22 | 13.337 | 1:21.630 | 19 | |
| 15 | 79 |  |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 22 | 13.826 | 1:21.519 | 14 | |
| 16 | 9 | |
Attila TASSI | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 22 | 14.326 | 1:21.816 | 18 | |
| 17 | 16 | |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 22 | 14.847 | 1:21.715 | 20 | |
| 18 | 28 | |
Jordi GENÉ | Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 22 | 15.294 | 1:21.802 | 16 | |
| 19 | 55 | |
Bence BOLDIZS | Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 22 | 15.940 | 1:21.849 | 17 | |
| R | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | DNF | 1:21.413 | 7 |