Mikel Azcona masters changeable conditions for race one win

Mikel Azcona prevailed in increasingly wet conditions to claim victory in the opening FIA TCR World Tour race at Zhouzhou in China, passing Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk for the win.

Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia had earlier claimed pole position in a dry qualifying session, the Uruguayan having topped every session of the weekend prior to the race.

Although the race began in dry conditions, rain was on the horizon as proceedings got underway, the entire field thus starting on slick tyres.

At the start, Urrutia quickly ceded to team-mate Björk, leaving the door open at the first corner to allow the title contender into an unchallenged lead.

Yann Ehrlacher then also got past his team-mate for second at Turns 5 and 6, and before the end of the lap Hyundai’s Azcona also found his way into third, as Urrutia fell backwards.

Azcona then began to immediately apply pressure to Ehrlacher for second, and on lap three the Spaniard made a late dive at Turn 5, although Ehrlacher was able to get back by on the exit of the corner, just before the safety car was called.

The race had to be neutralised after Jamie Lai Jing Wen had hit Lo Sze Ho’s Hyundai, breaking the latter’s right-rear wheel and leaving him stranded on track.

After three laps behind the safety car, racing resumed on lap seven, albeit not for long without incident.

Volcano Motorsport’s John Filippi carelessly made contact with TCR China title contender Martin Xie’s Honda at Turn 4 whilst battling for 13^th, spinning the Honda and losing him three places.

Filippi would later receive a ten-second time penalty for the incident, but for Xie his woes were far from over.

On lap eight, Xie was nudged by Andy Yan into David Zhu at Turn 5, before being collected by Deng Bao Wei on the corner exit, his Honda suffering multiple points of damage and ending up stranded on track.

Thus, another four laps behind the safety car followed, before which GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti had pitted for wet tyres from tenth.

By the time of the restart on lap 13 conditions had deteriorated, with heavier rain descending onto the circuit.

Filippi made an immediate call to pit for wets, but at the front Azcona soldiered on with slicks, like most of the field.

The biggest mover after the restart was GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri, who had also overtaken Urrutia just before the first safety car and was running in fourth.

The Honda driver dived inside Ehrlacher for third on lap 14 at the first corner, and in the closing laps was dicing with Björk for second, claiming the place definitively on the final lap.

In the end 2022 FIA WTCR champion Azcona was able to handle the conditions and claimed his first win of the season by over seven seconds from Guerrieri.

Björk completed the podium, meaning he is now just 15 points behind standings leader Michelisz, whilst Guerrieri’s second puts him in third, a further point behind Björk.

Ehrlacher claimed fourth, ahead of Urrutia in fifth.

Butti, charging through the field, gained places on every lap following the restart when he was down in 25^th and finished in sixth, ahead of Michelisz.

Néstor Girolami followed his team-mate in eighth, with the top ten completed by Volcano Motorsport’s Rob Huff and the leading TCR China car of Teamwork’s Jason Zhang.

Race two is scheduled to take place at 14:00 local time (07:00 BST, 08:00 CEST) on Sunday.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	196	WT		Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	40:34.472	1:56.550	4
2	186	WT		Esteban GUERRIERI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	7.062	1:57.174	6
3	111	WT		Thed BJÖRK	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	18	8.441	1:56.030	2
4	168	WT		Yann EHRLACHER	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	18	9.568	1:57.197	3
5	112	WT		Santiago URRUTIA	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	18	11.629	1:57.225	1
6	199	WT		Marco BUTTI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	13.994	1:57.444	9
7	105	WT		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	18.821	1:56.912	5
8	129	WT		Néstor GIROLAMI	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	19.825	1:57.192	10
9	179	WT		Rob HUFF	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	18	22.284	1:57.556	15
10	36	CN		Jason ZHANG Zhi Qiang	Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	22.464	1:57.511	12
11	62	WT		Dušan BORKOVIĆ	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	23.144	1:58.729	14
12	1	CN		Martin CAO Hong Wei	Hyundai N	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	25.656	1:59.062	16
13	155	WT		MA Qing Hua	Lynk & Co Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	18	26.317	1:57.193	8
14	3	CN		Andy YAN Cheuk Wai	Hyundai N	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	28.720	1:59.320	20
15	9	CN		David ZHU Dai Wei	Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	31.759	2:00.066	11
16	27	CN		CHAN Chun Leung	Norris Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	39.719	1:59.041	23
17	7	CN		David DENG Bao Wei	MacPro Racing Team	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	42.437	1:58.402	25
18	12	CN		Sunny WONG Yat Shing	Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	18	44.961	2:00.269	21
19	2	CN		Rainey HE Xiaole	Hyundai N	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	18	47.341	2:00.285	18
20	51	CN		WU Yi Fan	326 Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	18	54.121	2:00.940	17
21	37	CN		ZHOU Yun Jie	Spark Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	18	59.197	2:00.189	22
22	127	WT		John FILIPPI	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	18	1:03.557	1:57.704	13
23	26	CN		Tony CHAN Chi Wai	Norris Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	1:04.567	2:01.861	27
24	95	CN		HU Heng	GYT Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	18	1:13.505	2:01.408	28
25	87	CN		MAN Siu Ming	Evolve Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	18	1:34.507	2:02.522	26
R	55	CN		Martin XIE Xin Zhe	MacPro Racing Team	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	6	DNF	2:00.424	7
R	28	CN		LO Sze Ho	Evolve Racing	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	2	DNF	2:01.239	19
R	52	CN		LAI Jing Wen	326 Racing Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	2	DNF	2:01.085	24