Petr Fulín wins in Magny-Cours as Kris Richard mistakenly serves his team-mate’s penalty

Krenek Motorsport’s Petr Fulín won the first race of the day at Magny-Cours, finishing ahead of Frenchman Pierre-Etienne Chaumat, as points leader Kris Richard dropped from the lead to fourth after serving a self-imposed penalty on the penultimate lap. Richard apparently misread a mechanical black flag intended for team-mate Peter Rikli, and ended up relinquishing the lead of both the race and the championship to his Czech rival.

Richard had led the way in his repaired Rikli Motorsprot Honda Civic TCR at the rolling start ahead of Fulín, while Norbert Nagy found himself up to third in his Zengő Motorsport SEAT León Cup Racer, with Mladen Lalusic making good progress in his ASK Lein Racing SEAT León TCR to move up to fourth.

Chaumat dropped two spots at the start in his JSB Competition SEAT León Cup Racer, but retook Lalusic for fourth on lap two, with the Krenek SEAT of Christjohannes Schreiber and the Rikli Honda of Peter Rikli both passing Lalusic on lap three at the Adelaide and 180 corners respectively.

Richard continued to hold a lead of about a second lead over Fulín during the race, whilst Nagy defended against Chaumat for the mid-portion of the race.

The incident which would effectively define the race took place between Fulín and Richard’s team-mates on lap eight, with Schreiber and Rikli came together at the Nürburgring chicane, with Schrieber retiring on the spot in his Krenek SEAT, while Rikli brought his damaged Honda Civic into the pits for repairs, with smoke emanating from the rear of the car.

Richard meanwhile had been given a black and white flag as a final warning for track limits as he fended off Fulín for the lead, but with two laps to go, team-mate Rikli rejoined the race to check his issue was resolved, but unfortunately again smoke bellowed out from the rear of the Swiss driver’s Honda Civic, with the race director ordering the mechanical black flag for car #12.

Richard however read the flag as his car, #11, and drove through the pits on the penultimate lap, handing Fulín the lead of the race as Richard fell behind Chaumat and Nagy, and would finish off the podium in fourth position.

There was also an intense battle in the Super 1600 Cup class, with Niklas Mackschin, who’d passed title rival Andreas Rinke for third in the class at the Nürburgring chicane on lap three, joining the battling pair of ETH Tuning Peugeot driver Kevin Hilgenhövel and the Ravenol Ford Fiesta of Tomas Koreny on the final lap. Koreny made a lunge at Lycee, with the 16-year-old Czech driver stealing with win from Hilgenhövel, while Mackschin wrapped up the S1600 drivers’ title with three races to go.

Hilgenhövel will start Race 2 from pole position courtesy of the reversed top eight grid, while Fulín starts eighth, but now leads the Super 2000 Trophy standings by two points ahead of Richard thanks to his fourth win of the season.