Yann Ehrlacher leads Cyan Racing 1-2-3 in close-fought final race at Mid-Ohio

Yann Ehrlacher prevailed in a fraught final FIA TCR World Tour race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, leading a Cyan Racing 1-2-3 in a race featuring plenty of touring car bumping.

The reverse-grid race saw GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti and Dušan Borković line up on the front row of the grid, Butti leading the way from pole position when the lights went out.

Ehrlacher jumped Borković at the start and was immediately into second, as Borković sought to hold on to third for the first half dozen laps.

Whilst Santiago Urrutia was running in fourth ahead of team-mate Thed Björk early on, on lap six the Uruguayan allowed his Swedish team-mate in front to chase down Serb Borković.

On lap eight Björk opened the door on Borković at turn 9 with a slight rub, as the Honda driver began to struggle with grip in his rear tyres.

Urrutia and Ma Qing Hua quickly followed into fourth and fifth, meaning that Butti was now leading a four-car Cyan train.

The leading Italian was coming under increasing pressure by lap 11, when Ehrlacher allowed race one winner Björk into second to challenge Butti.

On lap nine, Björk made a move on Butti at his favourite place at Turn 9, easing into the lead with slight contact, as Ehrlacher followed into second.

The next lap saw Björk allow Ehrlacher back in front, whilst Butti was involved in an ever-more fraught battle. Butti and Björk made contact once again, resulting in the latter dropping behind all four Lynk & Cos.

In the position swapping, Urrutia got out of shape and dropped back, with the battling allowing the BRC Racing Hyundais of Norbert Michelisz and Mikel Azcona, along with GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri, to get by.

Guerrieri was the biggest beneficiary, now up to fourth with three laps to run, and in the closing stages the Argentine put Björk under huge pressure for the final podium place.

However, Ehrlacher was able to claim victory, ahead of Ma and Björk, with Guerrieri ultimately unable to get onto the podium.

Azcona took fifth ahead of team-mate Michelisz in sixth, with Borković taking seventh despite dropping back to ninth before the action heated up in the closing stages.

That action saw Urrutia amongst those to lose the most, dropping four places to eighth, with the top ten completed by Néstor Girolami and the biggest loser Butti.

Both Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundais of Mark Wilkins and Harry Gottsacker retired from the race after struggling with setup and tyre rubbing relating to not being used to running the Kumho rubber the series uses.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	168			Yann EHRLACHER	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	25:26.707	1:28.860	3
2	155			MA Qing Hua	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	0.338	1:28.742	7
3	111			Thed BJÖRK	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	0.921	1:28.576	8
4	186			Esteban GUERRIERI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	1.503	1:28.639	6
5	196			Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	1.949	1:28.562	10
6	105			Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	3.688	1:28.327	9
7	62			Dušan BORKOVIĆ	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	7.466	1:29.121	2
8	112			Santiago URRUTIA	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	17	8.032	1:28.942	4
9	129			Néstor GIROLAMI	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	17	8.653	1:29.282	5
10	199			Marco BUTTI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	17	11.673	1:28.774	1
11	127			John FILIPPI	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	17	12.816	1:29.280	11
12	92			Megan TOMLINSON	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	17	1:01.428	1:32.301	14
13	72			Riley PEGRAM	Pegram Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	+ 2 LAPS	1:36.164	15
R	98			Mark WILKINS	Bryan Herta Autosport	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	DNF	1:29.945	12
R	38			Harry GOTTSACKER	Bryan Herta Autosport	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	8	DNF	1:29.770	13