Thed Björk wins at the Nürburgring, while points leader Monteiro punctures

Polestar Cyan Volvo driver Thed Björk took his second win of the season in the opening race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, launching himself back into second in the drivers’ standings, while two punctures on the final lap took out both Honda’s Tiago Monteiro and Volvo’s Néstor Girolami.

Björk catapulted into third from sixth on the grid in his Volvo S60, while pole-sitter Néstor Girolami held off the Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën of Mehdi Bennani into the first corner to lead.

A trio of moves took place at the Döttinger Höhe straight at the end of the lap, with Björk passing Bennani’s Citroën of second, Tom Chilton in his Citroën passing Guerrieri’s Chevrolet for fourth, and with Rob Huff in the Münnich Citroën getting ahead of Tiago Monteiro’s Honda for sixth.

On the second lap, Björk then slipstreamed team-mate Girolami to take the lead again at Döttinger, with Huff scything past Guerrieri’s Chevrolet for fourth, all avoiding the slow-moving Honda Civic of ETCC points leader Christjohannes Schreiber, who was the first driver to experience a puncture in the race.

It was then drama again for Tiago Monteiro at the Nürburgring, with the Portuguese driver suffering a puncture for the second year in a row on the final lap of the opening race, dropping out of sixth position and a steady points position, with Néstor Girolami suffering a puncture soon after himself and dropped out of second.

Monteiro’s Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz then backed off, protecting his car for his pole position in Race 2, handing sixth to Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg.

Björk went on to take the win by 2.5 seconds from Bennani, with Rob Huff grabbing third from Chilton at the Döttinger Höhe straight on the final lap.

Monteiro continues to lead the championship, but his lead has dropped to 22 points, with Thed Björk now in second, with Volvo team-mate Nicky Catsburg five points behind.

The second race follows imminently, with Honda racing to repair Monteiro’s car, and Volvo already ruling Girolami as unrepairable for the race.