Julien Briché mastered tricky conditions in the second TCR Europe race at the Hungaroring, taking his Peugeot to victory ahead of the Audi of Gilles Magnus and Hyundai of Dániel Nagy.
At the start, reverse-grid pole-sitter Santiago Urrutia lost out to fellow front-row start Dušan Borković, with the Target Competition driver slipping up the inside.
However, Borković then lost out to fellow Hyundai driver Nagy at Turn 2, whilst Briché also briefly got past the Serbian driver who was fighting to control his carry in the drizzly conditions, before slipping back to fourth.
Nagy then led the first seven laps of the race, three of which were spent behind the safety car due to accidents for both TCR Eastern Europe driver Jáchym Galáš on the start line and John Filippi at Turn 3.
The race resumed on lap four and Nagy got off to a strong restart, but by lap eight he had Briché applying pressure, the Frenchman having dispatched Urrutia on lap five and Borković on lap seven.
Briché blasted around the outside of Nagy for the lead at Turn 11 on lap eight and the JSB Compétition driver never looked back, easing to a comfortable win as he mastered the changing conditions.
Comtoyou Racing’s Magnus was second after having nudging past Borković on lap eight, followed by Nagy on lap nine. Nagy completed the podium on home soil to the delight of the local fans, whilst Borković was fourth after fighting with his car sliding in the conditions throughout the race.
M Racing’s Nelson Panciatici was fifth, ahead of Urrutia in sixth, the duo being two of the only drivers not to swap positions in the second half of the race after Panciatici passed the Uruguayan on lap seven.
Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Stéphane Lémeret was seventh, having started 19th, whilst an impressive eighth was Target Competition’s Josh Files, who had started the race from the pitlane.
Files was as low as 31st by the end of the opening lap, but the Brit posted a fastest lap of the race which was over two seconds faster than most of the top ten as he fought back with a strong drive.
WRT’s Maxime Potty was ninth in his Volkswagen, whilst PCR Sport’s Davit Kajaia completed the top ten in his CUPRA.
Race one winner Mat’o Homola was 11th after slipping down the order in the mid-stages of the race, ahead of M1RA’s Luca Engstler in 12th, the German staging a remarkable recovery drive from 37th on the grid. The German had started the race in a repaired Hyundai after his qualifying crash on Saturday which came about due to the wheel nuts on his car coming loose.
The Peugeot of Teddy Clairet was 13th, ahead of Hyundai siblings Andreas and Jessica Bäckman in 14th and 15th respectively in their Target Competition cars.
Notable retirements included BRC Racing’s Luca Filippi, who crashed into the tyre barrier at Turn 1 on lap eight, and Wolf-Power Racing’s Alex Morgan, who crashed his Renault into the Turn 12 barriers after apparent contact from Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi.
The result means that the top six drivers in the series are covered by just five points, with Panciatici and Magnus topping the table on 57 points, followed by Nagy, Borković and Homola all on 54 points. Files has 52 points, whilst Briché is on 40 points in seventh after being disqualified from fourth in race one.
Race result
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 11 LAPS | 2:02.418 | 5 | |
2 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1.634 | 2:03.107 | 6 | |
3 | 99 | Dániel NAGY | M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 5.822 | 2:01.712 | 3 | |
4 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 7.167 | 2:02.211 | 2 | |
5 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 7.583 | 2:02.597 | 8 | |
6 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA | Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 7.895 | 2:03.741 | 1 | |
7 | 2 | Stéphane LEMERET | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 8.278 | 2:00.399 | 19 | |
8 | 9 | Josh FILES | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 8.375 | 1:57.337 | 7 | |
9 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 9.543 | 2:01.897 | 13 | |
10 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA | PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 10.517 | 1:59.895 | 22 | |
11 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 10.691 | 2:03.177 | 10 | |
12 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 10.976 | 1:58.003 | 37 | |
13 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 11.177 | 2:01.792 | 15 | |
14 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 12.128 | 2:01.143 | 9 | |
15 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 14.975 | 2:03.433 | 4 | |
16 | 46 | Olli KANGAS | WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 18.649 | 2:01.020 | 21 | |
17 | 331 | Milovan VESNIĆ | ASK Vesnić | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 23.679 | 1:59.375 | 24 | |
18 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 34.932 | 2:01.515 | 28 | |
19 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI | QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 48.490 | 1:59.494 | 26 | |
20 | 377 | Jakub WYSZOMIRSKY | ASK Vesnić | Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR | 11 | 1:00.831 | 2:02.886 | 29 | |
21 | 376 | Petr ČíŽEK | Fullinrace Academy | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:15.336 | 2:05.480 | 32 | |
22 | 374 | Žarko KNEGO | Auto Klub Dubrovnik Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:33.192 | 2:06.294 | 36 | |
23 | 322 | Carol WITTKE | Fullinrace Academy | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:11.232 | 2:06.054 | 33 | |
24 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 10 | + 1 LAP | 2:02.078 | 25 | |
25 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 10 | + 1 LAP | 1:59.400 | 31 | |
R | 25 | Natan BIHEL | M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | DNF | 2:00.411 | 11 | |
R | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | DNF | 2:03.743 | 17 | |
R | 44 | Lilou WADOUX | JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | DNF | 2:00.038 | 27 | |
R | 17 | Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | DNF | 2:00.114 | 20 | |
R | 5 | Alex MORGAN | Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:59.498 | 23 | |
R | 307 | Maciej ŁASKIEWICZ | RTM Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:06.815 | 35 | |
R | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:01.138 | 18 | |
R | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:02.766 | 14 | |
R | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:00.400 | 16 | |
R | 332 | Rudi PEŠOVIĆ | GM Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1 | DNF | N/A | 34 | |
R | 27 | John FILIPPI | Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 | |
R | 324 | Jáchym GALÁŠ | GT2 Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 30 |