Photo: WTCR Media

Esteban Guerrieri given ten-second penalty for incident with Yvan Muller

Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri has been given a ten-second penalty for his part in the incident with YMR Hyundai driver Yvan Muller on the third lap of Race 3 at the hairpin, which saw Muller drop two spots and eventually destroyed both drivers races.

Muller then found himself wedged between the Cupra TCR of Pepe Oriola and the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR of Rob Huff, and as the three battled, Muller eventually dropped a further spot before a further incident with the BRC Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz, which took Muller out of the points.

Guerrieri held on to sixth for several laps, before his car became undriveable and he fell down the order.

“I overtook Yvan, but when I got Yvan my front-wheel touched his sidepod and something got bent and I didn’t have the pace after that, and I had to defend but my front tyres were degrading pretty bad,” said Guerrieri to TouringCarTimes.

“Guerrieri came and hit me quite hard at the hairpin, and then the mess started from that,” said Muller to TouringCarTimes. “The race was a bit crazy for some time after that.”

Guerrieri’s penalty drops the Argentinian from 18th to 19th in the final order, behind the Cupra of Pepe Oriola who was forced to serve a drive-through after repeatedly cutting the track.

All other incidents which were under investigation, including Pepe Oriola’s contact with Norbert Michelisz at the start, and Michelisz’s contact with Muller late in the race, were deemed racing incidents.