Photo: TCR Europe

Dániel Nagy resists Jean-Karl Vernay for first victory at Assen

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Dániel Nagy withstood a fierce attack from Jean-Karl Vernay to claim his maiden TCR Europe victory in the opening race of the weekend at Assen.

The Hungarian made a strong getaway from third on the grid to run second early on, before pouncing on pole-sitter Vernay’s Audi RS 3 LMS on the fifth lap of 14.

Vernay held on to finsh second, some 2.310 seconds adrift of the Hyundai i30 N TCR, with Target Competition’s Kris Richard securing the final step on the podium in third.

Nagy’s win brings him right into the championship hunt after out-scoring both Dusan Borkovic and Mikel Azcona.

Borkovic moves into the points lead – with 119 points – after finishing sixth, while Azcona – tied with Nagy on 114 – could only manage eighth after first lap contact with the Honda Civic Type R FK8 of Loris Cencetti.

As the lights went out, Vernay made the best start to lead comfortably into the first corner, while fellow front row starter Maxime Potty dropped to seventh after a tardy start in the Comtoyou Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

Nagy secured second place with a gutsy move round the outside of Potty at the first turn and made an assertive move on Vernay after several laps of pressure.

The M1RA driver got a good run exiting Strubben and claimed the inside line for the quick entry to the Ruskenhoek chicane. Vernay was forced to take to the escape road and cede the position.

The Frenchman briefly challenged Nagy approaching mid-distance but he ran deep into the final chicane and ultimately fell back by the end of the race.

Qualifying pace-setter Josh Files had a disappointing race and only finished 10th after running in the top three early on. The KCMG Honda Civic Type R FK8 driver leapfrogged Potty on the opening lap, but ran wide after a tap from Richard into Strubben, eventually falling down the order.

A further wild slide at the fast Ramshoek left-hander dropped him behind the Cupras of Stian Paulsen and Azcona.

His KCMG team-mate Attila Tassi got held up while Files struggled for grip, but the Hungarian recovered to mount a serious challenge to Stefano Comini’s Autodis by THX Honda in the closing stages.

Comini though held firm and claimed fourth by half a second from Tassi. Behind Tassi, Borkovic beat Potty to sixth, while Paulsen headed Azcona and Files.

Race 2 at Assen takes place tomorrow at 11:00 CEST.