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Santiago Urrutia holds off Rob Huff for reverse-grid race win

Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia won the second FIA World Touring Car Cup race at the Hungaroring, fending off a stiff challenge from Zengő Motorsport’s Rob Huff in the reverse-grid race.

Urrutia started the race from pole position and at the start the Lynk & Co driver made a good getaway to lead into the first corner, as Huff was unable to make an early challenge from second.

The race then settled into a typical Hungaroring rhythm in very hot conditions, with overtaking proving to be particularly challenging.

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Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri was the biggest loser on the opening lap, dropping from sixth on the grid to eighth behind Gilles Magnus and Yann Ehrlacher.

The second lap then saw the first of several incidents outside the top ten. As Dániel Nagy, then 11th, defended from Thed Björk, the latter moved late to defend from Mehdi Bennani at Turn 12, resulting in contact.

This in turn bunched up more cars in the mix, and at the next corner Tom Coronel drove into Nagy for the second successive race, knocking the Zengő driver into Björk and resulting in Nagy’s right-rear tyre coming off, forcing him to limp to the pits.

Bennani was then involved in another incident six laps later when he misjudged his braking into the first corner, hitting the side of Yvan Muller’s Lynk & Co hard and breaking his front-left wheel.

That resulted in a mid-race safety car intervention for two laps, allowing Urrutia, who still had Huff just three tenths behind, a break and to save some of his tyre wear.

Huff kept close to Urrutia when the race restarted on lap nine, and despite never falling more than around half a second from the leader, he couldn’t find a way past, despite coming closer than ever on the final lap.

Münnich Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami completed the podium, allowing the Honda driver to close to nine points from championship leader Mikel Azcona.

Norbert Michelisz brought the leading BRC Racing Hyundai home in fourth at his home circuit, ahead of the second Cyan Racing Lynk & Co of Ma Qing Hua in fifth.

Ehrlacher was one of only a few drivers to successfully pull off a clean overtaking move in the race, passing the Audi of Gilles Magnus for sixth on the 12th lap.

Magnus came home in seventh, ahead of fellow Comtoyou Racing Audi driver Nathanaël Berthon in eighth, the Frenchman having been repeatedly warned about track limits, along with numerous drivers, during the race.

Race one winner Azcona and Cyan Racing’s Yvan Muller completed the top ten, the latter managing to finish despite his car receiving a hefty thump in the side from Bennani at half distance.

Guerrieri dropped to 11th by the end, the Argentine losing out to Muller just after the restart. Björk took 12th, ahead of Comtoyou Racing’s Coronel in 13th, although the Dutchman is under investigation by the stewards for again hitting Nagy’s CUPRA in the race.

Azcona leads the drivers’ championship standings with 84 points, ahead of Girolami (75), Urrutia (69), Ehrlacher (63) and Guerrieri (56).

The next round takes place at MotorLand Aragón on 25 – 26 June.

Race result

POS NO CL NAT DRIVER ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME BEST GD
1 12 Santiago URRUTIA Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 14 28:10.696 1:53.881 1
2 79 Rob HUFF Zengő Motorsport Services Kft CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 14 0.380 1:53.875 2
3 29 Néstor GIROLAMI ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR 14 2.428 1:54.209 3
4 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai Elantra N TCR 14 3.173 1:54.350 4
5 55 MA Qing Hua Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 14 5.880 1:54.302 5
6 68 Yann EHRLACHER Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 14 6.518 1:54.382 8
7 16 Gilles MAGNUS Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 14 8.649 1:54.594 7
8 17 Nathanaël BERTHON Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 14 9.486 1:54.489 9
9 96 Mikel AZCONA BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Hyundai Elantra N TCR 14 9.930 1:54.353 10
10 100 Yvan MULLER Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 14 10.250 1:54.675 11
11 86 Esteban GUERRIERI ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR 14 12.872 1:55.371 6
12 11 Thed BJÖRK Cyan Performance Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR 14 14.248 1:54.973 13
13 33 Tom CORONEL Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 14 17.613 1:55.159 16
14 9 Attila TASSI Liqui Moly Team Engstler Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR 14 18.550 1:56.125 14
15 18 Tiago MONTEIRO Liqui Moly Team Engstler Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR 14 20.555 1:56.307 17
NC 99 Dániel NAGY Zengő Motorsport Services Kft CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 9 NCF 1:59.864 12
R 25 Mehdi BENNANI Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 6 DNF 1:55.011 15
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