Thed Björk wins as Cyan Racing team orders cause overload at Zandvoort
Thed Björk has won the final race of the weekend ahead of team-mate Yann Ehrlacher, in a race where most of the action was on the team radios of the Swedish team, with Björk first ordered to let Ehrlacher by, before the decision was altered, much to the aggravation of his young team-mate.
Ehrlacher started from pole position in his Lynk & Co 03 TCR, and the Frenchman pulled across to cover off the inside line into Tarzan, running into the side of Björk’s car, who edged ahead into the corner.
Behind them, a great start from Augusto Farfus saw the Brazilian up to third from fourth on the grid in his BRC Racing Team Hyundai ahead of team-mate Norbert Michelisz, while Yvan Muller’s Cyan Racing Lynk & Co held fifth where it started.
The troubles started on lap three, when Björk was ordered to allow Ehrlacher past, and the Swede duly complied, responding to a pre-race arrangement which has not yet been made clear.
A few laps later, and Ehrlacher’s engineer Kevin Berry was on the radio informing him that “he’d pulled across too early” and now he had to hand the position back to Björk, which enraged the 22-year-old.
After initially not responding to the request, on lap nine, Ehrlacher eventually let Björk through, with indications that this would need to be discussed afterwards made between the team.
Björk won the race by eight-tenths of a second ahead of Ehrlacher, with team orders also employed by BRC Racing Team on the final lap, with Augusto Farfus allowing their main points scorer Norbert Michelisz through into third.
Yvan Muller had a quiet run to fifth, with Mikel Azcona picking up key points with sixth in his PWR Racing Cupra.
SLR Volkswagen driver Johan Kristoffersson was seventh, ahead of Esteban Guerrieri’s Münnich Motorsport Honda in eighth. Gabriele Tarquini was ninth in his BRC Hyundai, with Volkswagen’s Rob Huff completing the top ten after a penultimate lap pass on the Hyundai of Nicky Catsburg.
Guerrieri maintains the lead of the championship, but Björk now moves up to second, 11 points behind, with former points leader Néstor Girolami slipping to third, 26 points adrift.
The next round of the championship takes place at the Nürburgring on June 21st-22nd.
