WTCR: Huff becomes 12th winner in 16 races in Sochi finale

WTCR: Huff becomes 12th winner in 16 races in Sochi finale

Sport news

Huff emerged from a gaggle of cars jostling for the podium to lead Frederic Vervisch home, the Belgian securing second in the points with the runner-up spot at a damp Sochi Autodrom.

The action was non-stop from the start. Yvan Muller lost out from his pole position as Mikel Azcona shot into the lead, with Néstor Girolami also demoting the Frenchman. But Muller hit back later in the lap to snatch back second place. Santiago Urrutia worked his way up to third, but not without picking up damage in the melee in the opening corners and the Uruguayan was forced to retire to the pits.

There was also trouble off the line as Gilles Magnus and Attila Tassi made contact under acceleration. Magnus’s Comtoyou Audi was left stranded on the start/finish straight, meaning the Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition safety car was called upon to allow it to be recovered.

Racing was due to resume on lap four. But as the field streamed into the penultimate turn as the Honda safety car pitted Muller ran hard into the back of Azcona, the damage forcing both out of the race. “I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry,” said a disappointed Muller.

Race 1 winner Azcona was devastated. “The car is totally destroyed,” he said. “I’m very disappointed. I don’t understand how it’s possible for a driver like Yvan Muller with such experience to do this. Very disappointing from him. He totally destroyed my race, so thank you very much.”

That left Girolami to lead the pack across the line, only for another accident to neutralise the race. Bence Boldizs and wildcard entry Kirill Ladygin made contact in the long Turn 3, the Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy CUPRA slamming hard into the barrier. Boldizs walked away from the scene.

Racing resumed once again on lap seven with Girolami initially holding off Huff and Vervisch into Turn 2. But later around the lap at Turn 13 Huff pulled off a great pass to take the lead and opened up an impressive gap that would prove decisive as he became the 12th different winner from the 16 WTCR races this year.

“We deserved that after the year we’ve had, with seven DNFs,” said a delighted Huff. “What a way to go out at the end of the season. And we had a misfire, but still pulled it off. Absolutely brilliant.”

But there was plenty to be settled behind the Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición. Vervisch exerted big pressure on Girolami and finally found a way past with a great move through Turn 3 on lap 10. “I don’t know what to say, it has to sink in,” said Vervisch on his runner-up place to King of WTCR Yann Ehrlacher. “I should jump on the car because this is a mega achievement with a new car for this year.”

Fellow Comtoyou Audi driver Nathanaël Berthon completed the podium after a multi-car scrap that lasted for the duration. Attila Tassi came through from 12th on the grid to finish a fine fourth in his ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR, ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay and the new champion Ehrlacher, who repeated his sixth place finish from Race 1.

Girolami dropped to seventh, ahead of Norbert Michelisz (Hyundai), Tom Coronel (Audi) and Luca Engstler (Hyundai). Thed Björk finished in P11, ahead of Jordi Gene, the Spaniard making the finish despite being punted up the back by Gabriele Tarquini. It was a sad way for Tarquini’s WTCR career to finish as the Italian was forced to retire his BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse Hyundai Elantra N TCR with front-end damage after the collision on lap eight.

World Touring Car Cup

WTCRWTCRSEASON 2021SportCircuit1SportWorld Touring Car CupCircuitWTCRSEASON 2021WTCR00Sunday, November 28, 2021 – 2:07pmSunday, November 28, 2021 – 2:07pm

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WTCR – Azcona wins Sochi thriller, Ehrlacher 2021 king of WTCR **

WTCR – Azcona wins Sochi thriller, Ehrlacher 2021 king of WTCR **

Sport news

Mikel Azcona passed Jean-Karl Vernay on the final lap to win a thrilling Race 1 at WTCR VTB Race of Russia as Yann Ehrlacher became the 2021 King of WTCR with a safe sixth place at a slippery Sochi Autodrom.

Azcona came from eighth on the grid to claim a fabulous victory in his Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición, as Ehrlacher kept out of trouble to secure his second consecutive WTCR crown.

Tough conditions contributed to a frenetic opening race as Frédéric Vervisch gave everything to keep the points battle alive in his Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS. But third place for the Belgian wasn’t enough to stop Ehrlacher provisionally clinching his title.

“This feels so good,” said the 25-year-old on the radio after taking the chequered flag. “We are world champions! Twice! Yes! Come on!”

Vernay looked set for victory after his own fantastic performance. The Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team driver made a superb start from the second row to squeeze between both Audis on the front row ahead of Turn 1, only for pole position starter Gilles Magnus to drag back past on the long run to Turn 2 to secure the lead.

Behind the top two Esteban Guerrieri was challenging Vervisch for third place when he lost control at Turn 4 and crashed heavily into a barrier in his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR. “I’m sorry guys,” said the Argentinian on the team radio. “I hit the blue paint.”

Ehrlacher reported on his view of the start from his car. “It was absolute chaos,” he said. “I couldn’t see anything. The main thing is Esteban is OK. It was a big one, I saw it live.”

Following the intervention by the Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition safety car, racing resumed on lap four and Vernay was immediately on the attack, getting a run on Magnus on the inside of the long Turn 3 to take the lead. Magnus then found himself under attack from Rob Huff and Azcona in their CUPRAs. Azcona passed his team-mate on the fifth lap as Vernay reported his windscreen wipers weren’t working. The following time around Azcona demoted Magnus to third and set after Vervisch who was now running second to Vernay.

But Magnus wasn’t finished and on lap seven hit back at the Cupras, triggering a further shuffle of the order. Now Huff was third from Azcona, with Magnus still biting at their heels.

Meanwhile up front Vervisch was pressing Vernay for the lead – but suddenly the Belgian had Huff to deal with. The pair clashed door to door, which sadly caused damage to Huff’s CUPRA who was forced to retire to the pits. The order was now Vernay, Azcona, Vervisch and Magnus as the race moved towards the closing stages.

On the final lap, Azcona got a run on Vernay across the start/finish and made his decisive move on the brakes into Turn 2 to take the lead and a memorable victory. Behind Vernay, Vervisch at least finished on the podium in third ahead of Comtoyou team-mate Magnus. Nathanaël Berthon made it a trio of Audis in the top five after a relatively quiet race, with Ehrlacher keeping clear of any problems to finish sixth and secure the vital points he needed in his Cyan Racing Lynk & Co.

Attila Tassi (Honda) passed Yvan Muller for seventh, with the other Lynk & Cos of Santiago Urrutia and Thed Björk rounding out the top 10. The other points scorers were Néstor Girolami (Honda) in P11, ahead of Norbert Michelisz (Hyundai), Luca Engstler (Hyundai), Gabriele Tarquini – in his penultimate race before retirement – and Jordi Gene (CUPRA) in P15.

The season-closing Race 2 at WTCR VTB Race of Russia will start at 14h15 local time.

**Subject to confirmation of the results by the FIA

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WTCRWTCRSEASON 2021SportCircuit1SportWorld Touring Car CupCircuitWTCRSEASON 2021WTCR00Sunday, November 28, 2021 – 12:16pmSunday, November 28, 2021 – 12:16pm

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WTCR – Race of Russia post-Qualifying virtual press conference

WTCR – Race of Russia post-Qualifying virtual press conference

Sport news

Mikel Azcona, Néstor Girolami, Kirill Ladygin and Yvan Muller attended the virtual press conference following Qualifying at WTCR VTB Race of Russia.In attendance:Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co), pole positionMikel Azcona (Zengo Motorsport), second positionNéstor Girolami (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport), third positionKirill Ladygin (ROSNEFT LADA Sport)Q:Yvan, what a lap in very tricky qualifying conditions, even in terms of when in Q3 you would run. Talk us behind the strategyYM:Yeah, that was a good lap, but when I started my lap I had a doubt because in Q2 I struggled to do a good lap. I was quick in Q1. Q2, I had to stop to change tyres and go again, and I just came in the top five at the last second. I drove as best I could. I did a small set of changes before the Q3 which helped me a lot and then I drove without mistakes and that made a good lap.Q:A brilliant position for your team-mate and nephew Yann Ehrlacher to be in, but also for the teams’ championship as well.YM:Yeah, absolutely. That’s the main goal and we always say that is the case: the main goal is to win the teams’ championship first before anything else. But we took a lot of points already today about this and then we have to confirm. I also hope we can confirm the drivers’ title for Yann. And if there is something else, if I can finish in the top three of the drivers’ championship it would be nice. That would be the 16th time in a row, which would be not bad.Q:A nice stat! A question from Erik Rasulev from Match TV. How physically challenging is the Sochi track for you drivers? After the first practice we saw a few of you even needed medical help after the session. Is it because of curves and fast F1 corners that cause so much g-force and how are the cars reacting to these conditions?YM:Honestly, I have no idea. I try to stay away from everybody, I still keep the distance, which many people forget to do. But the track is nice. Of course it’s fantastic. It was a great session in FP1 because conditions were dry and it was a pleasure to drive on it. Unfortunately it was wet in FP2 and quallie. Then let’s see tomorrow how it is. But I hope it will be dry because it is great to have fast corners like this. I don’t think it is the case, it is not because of the circuit that they are sick.Q:Mikel, what a lap for you too. When we spoke during FP1 you didn’t even get to finish because you were having terrible problems. So talk us through your qualifying.MA:It was not my best start of the day. We had some technical issues in the first free practice, which I didn’t have much experience of the track. It’s a new track for me, almost for everyone. So luckily in free practice two we went for wet conditions and in qualifying I really like these conditions when it’s wet and it’s changing conditions. I tried to do everything, the car was working really good in those conditions. It’s true that in dry conditions we are struggling a little bit compared to the other cars. For me it was really good, these wet conditions. During qualifying, Q1, Q2 and Q3 we were trying to improve the car. We did some changes and also the car was improving, which I’m really happy about. I feel really good after a bad start to the day. Still tomorrow there are two races for the final races and I really want to be battling for the podium positions and why not the victories? I am coming from two very difficult weekends, so for me it’s everything.Q:Bebu, it looked like when you started that lap you weren’t going to pull it out of the bag. But the last sectors you really did. It was tricky conditions out there, wasn’t it?NG:Yeah. Hello everybody. First of all I would like to send all positive thoughts and energy to Marcela Bertolisi who was working for Eurosport Events. She died two weeks ago. She was always smiling and I will remember her always like that. So all my positive thoughts to her family. Regarding the day, it was quite complicated for us. We knew in this situation with this long straight our performance is not so good, so free practice one we were far away, then in free practice two with damp conditions we started to pick up the pace and started to fight for the top 10. And Q1 was not an easy shot for me, I just passed in P12. To be honest the track changed a lot from FP2 to qualifying, so we were doing some changes from Q1 to Q2 and this made the car much better and I understood how to drive faster, take that opportunity to be in Q3. That was the main target, to be in front of Esteban’s rivals who are Vervisch and Ehrlacher. So tomorrow we have a very good starting position to at least fight for both titles. I think in the teams’ title we are far away, but Esteban is still fighting for the drivers’ championship, so full focus on tomorrow. I will do my best, trying to help him as much as possible.Q:Kirill, how was it being in the WTCR today?KL:It was really nice! For us it is very difficult to find a good set-up and not go the wrong way. We don’t know these tyres very well. But tomorrow is another day. We will see

World Touring Car Cup

WTCRWTCRSEASON 2021SportCircuit1SportWorld Touring Car CupCircuitWTCRSEASON 2021WTCR00Saturday, November 27, 2021 – 5:47pmSaturday, November 27, 2021 – 5:47pm

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