Nicky Catsburg made it two wins out of two for Polestar Cyan Racing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this afternoon, taking a dominant hold on the main race of the event into turn one and comfortably led to the finish.
Even with the slightest contact between himself and Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff at the first turn on the very first lap, causing the latter to drop a couple of places, Catsburg pulled out an advantage over the three laps to win by 3.065 seconds, ahead of pole sitter Norbert Michelisz.
As a result, the Dutchman now leads the standings by two points from Honda’s Tiago Monteiro, who would eventually finish 13th, having started from the pitlane after getting his damaged Honda back to the pits following his opening race puncture.
It came very close to the Portuguese driver not being ready at the end of the pitlane to start, as the team worked furiously to get his Civic Type-R back out on track, which included significant repairs being carried out.
But Monteiro’s race was further compounded with him having to work his way through the entire ETCC field, before latching onto the back of the pack.
Leading WTCC Trophy driver Huff had to defend from Opening Race winner Thed Björk for the final step of the podium in the last lap and a half, but he ultimately finished ahead of the Swede.
The Briton was unable to take advantage of the slipstream down Dottinger Höhe to make his way past Michelisz ahead, closing up too late to the rear bumper of the Hungarian into Tiergarten on the second and third laps.
Tom Chilton was the best of the Sébastien Loeb Racing contingent in fifth, having got past teammate Medhi Bennani for position on the first lap, whilst John Filippi ended up tenth, having been passed by RC Motorsport’s Yvan Erlacher on the Dottinger Höhe on the final lap.
The French rookie was 5.601 seconds behind the battling Chevrolet Cruze TC1s of Tom Coronel and Esteban Guerrieri, who were seventh and eighth, with Coronel using his experience of the 25.3km-long circuit to good effect, finishing just 0.325 seconds ahead of the Campos Racing driver.
Kevin Gleason brought his Lada Vesta TC1 home in 11th, ahead of the Zengo Motorsport Honda of Aurélien Panis and Monteiro.
Ryo Michigami retired after going off at the loop on the GP circuit on lap one, damaging the front of his Honda, whilst Daniel Nagy crashed out late in proceedings, as the Hungarian’s Civic collided with the barriers at the Stefan Bellof esses, with a possible tyre puncture being the causing.
The World Touring Car Championship now moves onto the streets of Vila Real for the Race of Portugal in four weeks’ time.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 3 | 3 LAPS | 8:45.647 | 2 | |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 3.065 | 8:47.364 | 1 | |
| 3 | 12 | T | Rob HUFF |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 3.401 | 8:47.335 | 3 |
| 4 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 3 | 4.167 | 8:47.876 | 5 | |
| 5 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 5.763 | 8:48.538 | 6 |
| 6 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 11.239 | 8:48.876 | 8 |
| 7 | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 14.614 | 8:50.117 | 7 |
| 8 | 86 | T | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 14.939 | 8:49.694 | 9 |
| 9 | 68 | T | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 3 | 20.540 | 8:51.606 | 11 |
| 10 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 21.928 | 8:52.673 | 12 |
| 11 | 24 | T | Kevin GLEASON |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 3 | 24.245 | 8:52.788 | 13 |
| 12 | 8 | T | Aurélien PANIS | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 29.600 | 8:54.672 | 14 |
| 13 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 43.108 | 8:51.515 | 4 | |
| 14 | 99 | T | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 2 | 1 Lp. | 8:59.591 | 15 |
| R | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | DNF | N/A | 10 | |
| NS | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | – | DNS | N/A | 16 |