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Jean-Karl Vernay back in front after mayhem in Germany

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Jean-Karl Vernay has retaken the lead of the championship, after three of his main championship rivals scored no points whatsoever on Sunday, with only Comtoyou Racing’s Stefano Comini making some ground in the standings with two points finished.

Vernay himself scored nothing in Race 1, after his race was written-off following a drive-through penalty for contact with the M1RA Honda of Attila Tassi on lap four, for which the Frenchman is adamant he is blameless.

The Team WRT Volkswagen driver finished third in Race 2, although a part of the massive crash at the start, was able to make the restart and score key points in the championship, moving two points clear of Attila Tassi on the scoreboard.

“It was a tough weekend for different reasons for me,” said Vernay. “Race 1 and especially the start of Race 2 was pretty stressful for me, but it was a good result and good points…I’m really happy for the championship.

“We’re leading, but it’s really close. With (team-mate) Rob (Huff), we’ll work even harder to improve to stay in this position until the end of the season.”

Vernay said there was nothing he could do about early race leader Mat’o Homola’s Opel, but also didn’t have the pace to match the rival Volkswagen Golf of Gianni Morbidelli, with the WestCoast Racing driver going around him and Homola to score his second win of the day, and move to eighth in the drivers’ table, 76 points behind Vernay.

“Morbidelli was much faster than all of us and I was really surprised when he overtook me,” he said. “I was hoping for another move on Mat’o from Gianni and hoped to go (past) with him, but it didn’t happen.”

The championship now takes an eight week break, before resuming at the Buriram International Circuit in Thailand on September 3rd.