Michel Nykjaer leads all Chevrolet podium in Salzburgring

Nika Racing’s Michel Nykjaer took his second career win at the Salzburgring leading from start to finish, though under constant pressure from bamboo-engineering’s James Nash, whilst Championship leader Yvan Muller went from 13th to third.

After all the penalties from last night, the jumbled grid didn’t deliver the trouble perhaps expected at Turn 1, aside from Marc Basseng’s Münnich Motorsport SEAT being knocked onto the grass into Turn 1 but was able to rejoin into the chicane without making contact.

Nykjaer held the lead ahead of James Nash and the Proteam BMW of Mehdi Bennani, whilst Wiechers-Sport’s Fredy Barth was able to pass Franz Engstler’s Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW for fourth and James Thompson was able to draw past team-mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy’s Lada into Turn 1.

From the mid-field, bamboo-engineering’s Alex MacDowall was on a charge with Yvan Muller’s Chevrolet in tow, both passing Kozlovskiy on lap two and then Engstler’s BMW and Thompson’s Lada on the fourth lap.

MacDowall’s charge stalled when he came across Fredy Barth’s BMW whilst battling for fourth place, and a mistake into the chicane on lap six allowed Muller through who went on to pass Barth further around the lap and began to close on Mehdi Bennani for third.

Muller had been able to shake off Rob Huff, who was trying to follow in Muller’s tow when he passed Kozlovskiy, and Huff was now fighting James Thompson whilst simultaneously battling to keep Tom Chilton’s RML Chevrolet behind.

Huff passed Thompson for seventh on lap eight, and the reigning champion put on the save of the race when Thompson ran into Huff’s SEAT knocking him 90 degrees sideways, but he was still able to recover and hold the position. Thompson backed off however allowing Tom Chilton through who was able to pass Huff for seventh with two laps to go.

At the front, Nykjaer was still under pressure from Nash, but overtaking in sector three was ruled out after a multi-car collision in Turn 12 when Charles Ng ran into the side of team-mate Franz Engstler, spinning him around and into the path of the luckless Darryl O’Young. Both Engstler and O’Young’s cars were left in the gravel with heavy damage.

Muller was able to pass Bennani for third on the final corner and joined Nykjaer and Nash’s battle for the win, but Nykjaer was able to hold on to take his second win and victory in the Yokohama Trophy classification with Nash second and Muller third.

Bennani finished fourth with Alex MacDowall in fifth position.

The three Hondas which started from the back scored no points, with Tarquini the top finisher in 12th position, but have a better chance to score in race two, with all three cars starting in the top ten.

Race two follows at 13:50 CET.