Dániel Nagy capitalised on a great overtaking manoeuvre at Jean-Karl Vernay’s expense to claim his maiden victory in TCR Europe, the second consecutive for the M1RA team. Dušan Borković delivered a thrilling performance, as he was able to recover and finish sixth, a result that helped him to retake the leadership in the standings with a margin of five points over Mikel Azcona who is now on equal points with Nagy. After setting the fastest lap in Qualifying and being dropped to fourth on the grid by a penalty, Josh Files took a brilliant start and chased the leading duo of Vernay and Nagy until he was pushed wide by Kris Richard; an incident that is currently under investigation. From that moment onwards, the pace of Files’ Honda faded and he dropped until finishing in tenth position at the end. The second position meant that Vernay won the TCR Benelux race and climbed to fourth in the standings, 35 points behind Borković. Giovanni Altoè won the DSG Trophy in 18th position overall. Race 2 will start tomorrow at 11:00, with Stian Paulsen on pole on the top-ten reverse grid. Live streaming on www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.
Key facts Start – Vernay sprints well from the pole and takes the lead from Nagy, Files, Tassi, Richard, Comini and Potty who takes a slow start from second on the grid Lap 1 – Cencetti goes off after making contact with Azcona; Briché overtakes Paulsen for seventh Lap 2 – Richard overtakes Tassi for fourth Lap 3 – Borković overtakes Kroes for 11th Lap 5 – Nagy and Vernay run abreast in a chicane, Nagy hits a tyre stack but manages to take the lead Lap 6 – Files, Richard, Tassi and Comini have a close fight for third; Borković moves up to ninth ahead of Azcona Lap 7 – Richard pushes Files wide and climbs to third, while the Briton drops to sixth; Borković overtakes Paulsen for eighth Lap 8 – Comini attacks Richard who maintains the third position; Files overtakes Tassi for firth, but then drops to seventh behind his teammate and Potty Lap 9 – Vernay attacks Nagy who resists and then pulls away Lap 10 – Borković overtakes Files for seventh; Terting retires with a gearbox failure Lap 11 – Azcona misses the braking point and cuts a chicane Lap 12 – Paulsen and Azcona overtake Files for eighth and ninth Lap 13 – Briché drops after a contact with Møller Lap 14 – Nagy wins from Vernay, Richard, Comini and Tassi; Borković overtakes Potty for sixth
Driver quotes after the first race
Dániel Nagy (winner): « I am really happy, as this is my first international race win. At last! I want to thank the M1RA team that has done a great job and gave me a perfect car. I took a good start and in lap 4, when I saw an opportunity to pass Vernay, I went for it. We had a fair battle and he was very fast, but I could keep the advantage. Now is time to celebrate a bit, but also to start thinking about the championship, because we are in a very good position in the standings. »
Jean-Karl Vernay (second): « It’s frustrating to lose a win that we should have claimed, but that’s racing. Everything went well in the initial laps, but then I was a little bit late at the braking into the first corner and Nagy passed. Given yesterday’s heavy repairs to the chassis, not everything was perfect in the car, especially in brake balance. I was able to keep side-by-side with him and retake the lead, but then we arrived at turns 3 and 4 and there was gravel all over the tarmac and couldn’t keep the line. I am a little annoyed, as the points lost would have been very useful. »
Kris Richard (third): « I am quite happy with the result today. The car was good, we had a strong race pace, as always, and that goes to the team’s credit. I lost one position at the start, then gained it back at first corner to become fifth. Thanks to the good pace, I could catch and eventually pass the two Honda cars in front of me, and secure a nice podium. »
Files was fastest in Qualifying, but Vernay had the pole
Josh Files and his Hell Energy Racing Honda Civic set the fastest lap in Qualifying, however it was the Leopard Lukoil Team’s Audi RS3 LMS of Jean-Karl Vernay to win pole position for Race 1. In fact, the Briton was demoted to fourth due to a penalty that was the consequence of an incident occurred during the previous event at the Hungaroring. Maxime Potty qualified his Comtoyou Racing’s Volkswagen Golf GTI in third position and started from the second spot, followed by the M1RA Hyundai of Dániel Nagy. Track limit infringements had a crucial impact on the Qualifying results, as many drivers had their fastest laps disallowed and some others were reinstated after the Stewards reversed their own decisions. Nagy (1:45.282), Duśan Borković (1:45.387) and Mikel Azcona (1:45.491) had been punished for trespassing the track limits in Q2. After listening the drivers and reviewing the marshal reports, the Stewards of the Meeting cancelled the decisions. Nagy, who had set the fourth fastest time, started third because of the three-position grid penalty inflicted to Josh Files for an incident during the previous event at the Hungaroring that dropped him from first to fourth. Borković, who had set the seventh fastest lap, was demoted by three positions down to tenth, because he had received the same penalty as Files. Azcona started from seventh on the grid; he had posted the eighth fastest lap, but regained one position because of Borković’s penalty. This also changed the reversed top-ten grid for tomorrow’s Race 2 that will see Stian Paulsen on pole position and Julien Briché alongside him.
Press release TCR
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