Rob Huff claims victory in eventful Vallelunga race two

Rob Huff emerged victorious in an eventful second TCR World Tour race at Vallelunga, coming through from fifth on the grid after early leader Ma Qing Hua was bumped out of contention.

At the start, Néstor Girolami jumped the lights too early and consequently picked up a five-second time penalty, although the ALM Motorsport Honda driver immediately backed off which caused him a loss of momentum and he dropped several places.

Girolami was then nudged off the circuit at the exit of the fast Turn 3 by Santiago Urrutia, dropping him to the back of the pack by the end of the first lap anyway.

Reverse-grid pole sitter Ma Qing Hua thus held the advantage on the first lap, although Cyan Racing team-mate Yann Ehrlacher tried to go around the outside of the Chinese driver, albeit to no avail.

That allowed Huff to close in on the duo, as the battle for the lead was at least a three-car affair.

As BRC Hyundai duo Norbert Michelisz and Mikel Azcona battled for seventh on the second lap, it allowed Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk to take advantage and pass both, up to then seventh.

At the front, Huff passed Ma for the lead at the Turn 14 Esses on lap three, as Ma went wide and also allowed Ehrlacher to assume second.

Going on to lap four, Comtoyou Racing’s John Filippi also tried to muscle in on the action, pushing Ma wide onto the gravel at Turn 3. This resulted in a high-speed pirouette for Ma, who thus dropped to the back.

More contact came for Filippi exiting the next corner, Turn 4, as Urrutia tagged the back of the Audi, pitching both off circuit and the Frenchman into the barriers.

A two-lap safety car period was required as a result, to allow the beached Audi to be removed from the gravel.

Racing resumed on lap seven, and Huff set about opening an advantage of over three seconds, which he would hold to the end of the race, by which time the Brit’s advantage was over four and a half seconds.

Ehrlacher had no answer and thus had to settle for second, with Frédéric Vervisch completing the podium, the Comtoyou driver having been sixth at the end of the first tour and effectively benefitting from the shenanigans ahead of him on the road.

Michelisz was fourth ahead of team-mate Azcona, with Björk bringing his Lynk & Co home in sixth.

Guest entrant Marco Butti was seventh in his Hyundai, ahead of the recovering Girolami in eighth in the best of the ALM Motorsport Hondas.

The top ten was completed by SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte, who put in a spirited drive in his CUPRA, and Aggressive Team Italia’s Kevin Ceccon.

Sylvain Pussier was 11^th in his CUPRA, whilst TCR Europe regular Kobe Pauwels was 12^th – the Comtoyu driver had earlier run in ninth but contact when battling Comte saw him muscled off the circuit and down the order.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP	GD
1	179			Rob HUFF	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	30:21.884	1:42.459	5
2	168			Yann EHRLACHER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	16	4.687	1:42.911	4
3	122			Frédéric VERVISCH	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	5.098	1:42.861	7
4	105			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	16	6.404	1:42.666	10
5	196			Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	16	6.770	1:42.432	9
6	111			Thed BJÖRK	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	16	7.995	1:42.703	8
7	18			Marco BUTTI	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	16	9.444	1:43.011	13
8	129			Néstor GIROLAMI	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	18.025	1:43.242	3
9	76			Aurélien COMTE	SP Competition	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	19.691	1:42.804	12
10	31			Kevin CECCON	Aggressive Team Italia	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	16	21.892	1:43.921	16
11	77			Sylvain PUSSIER	SP Competition	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	16	22.444	1:43.496	15
12	22			Kobe PAUWELS	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	16	24.103	1:43.644	11
13	155			MA Qing Hua	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	16	25.408	1:42.800	1
14	123			Mattias VAHTEL	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	16	26.311	1:43.557	14
15	112			Santiago URRUTIA	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	1:42.961	6
R	27			John FILIPPI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	3	DNF	1:42.986	2