Gianni Morbidelli steals victory at Oschersleben as the field is decimated
Gianni Morbidelli took his second win of the season and the day in a dramatic second race at Oschersleben, passing the Opel of Mat’o Homola on the final lap of a race which saw just eight cars of the 23 entries make the finish after a massive pile-up at the first start.
At the first attempt to start the race, Mat’o Homola made a good getaway at the first start in his DG Sport Opel, while James Nash also had a lightning getaway from fourth on the grid in his Craft-Bamboo SEAT and moved to the inside of Jean-Karl Vernay’s Volkswagen towards Turn 1, but with Roberto Colciago’s Honda alongside on the right, the Frenchman was squeezed inbetween the SEAT and Honda, touching and spinning around Nash, who then crashed into Colciago.
Colciago’s Honda Civic was then collected by the WestCoast Racing Honda of Giacomo Altoè, who was now also spinning across the track, with Team WRT’s Rob Huff, the SEAT of Stian Paulsen and the Engstler VW of Luca Engstler also caught up in the incident.
The race was immediately red flagged, with the cars cleared up over the next 30 minutes, but with no injuries, with Roberto Colciago having to go to the medical centre complaining of minor pain but returning to the paddock before the restart.
The race was restarted, with positions three to seven all empty, with Homola on pole ahead of Vernay, with Daniel Lloyd effectively third, albeit four rows back, with Jaap van Lagen’s WRT Volkswagen next ahead of Gianni Morbidelli’s WestCoast Volkswagen.
Homola then held the lead at the second restart ahead of Vernay, with Lloyd and Morbidelli third and fourth on the road followed by championship leader Attila Tassi in the M1RA Honda.
There was frenetic action behind as Jaap van Lagen in the WRT Volkswagen was battling with Frédéric Vervisch’s Audi, with both falling behind the #1 Audi of Stefano Comini, with the two GE-Force Alfa Romeos also involved in the battle.
On lap two, Van Lagen was out of the race after contact with Attila Tassi’s Honda, with the Dutchman suffering a puncture with Tassi dropping down the order, and would later retire with two laps to go.
Morbidelli was then working his way forward, passing the SEAT of Dan Lloyd for third at Turn 13 on lap four, and then closed down Jean-Karl Vernay’s Volkswagen and took second from the Frenchman on lap eight.
The top four battled throughout the rest of the race, with Morbidelli trying but failing on several occasions to get ahead of Homola’s Opel, but a last lap move at Turn 13 saw the Italian get his nose ahead of the Slovakian’s Opel and stole the win, with Homola forced to settle for second and with Vernay taking the final spot on the podium.
Lloyd finished fourth, with Comini over ten seconds further back in fifth ahead of Fred Vervisch, with Duncan Ende scoring his first points in seventh in the Icarus Motorsports’ SEAT León.
Jens Reno Møller finished eighth, the last driver on the lead lap, with Davit Kajaia ninth after a puncture finishing in ninth for Alfa Romeo, two laps down, with Ferenc Ficza finishing tenth, taking the first points for the Kia Cee’d TCR.
Vernay’s third place was enough to give him back the lead of the championship, two points clear of Attila Tassi, with Roberto Colciago six points behind in the standings heading to the next rounds in Thailand in September.
