Oliver Webb and Jean-Karl Vernay take opening Pool A wins in Copenhagen

Oliver Webb and Jean-Karl Vernay emerged victorious in the first round of Pool A battles as PURE ETCR made its street racing debut in Copenhagen.

Romeo Ferraris Alfa driver Webb dominated the opening battle after getting a terrific launch off the start, eventually heading hom Cupra X Zengo Motorsport’s Dániel Nagy and Hyundai Motorsport’s John Filippi.

As expected, the tight and twisty 2.4km Danish street circuit proved entertaining but difficult to overtake on, as Nagy successfully held his position despite waves of attacks from Filippi, most notably as the series of slow-speed chicanes around the track.

“The start was always going to be a bit tricky as the inside line is always the most preferable at most circuits, but here all the practice starts have been in the middle and the racing line is on the outside,” said Webb.

“And on the inside there’s a drain cover which has been looked after since last night so there was a bit of water there [as well], so I wasn’t really looking forward to it.

“But luckily I got a good start and the guys behind had a bit of a battle and we got through.”

At the start of Battle 1, Webb got a superb start and vaulted out of the gate to take the lead into the first corner, as Nagy consolidated second place ahead of the Hyundai of John Filippi.

As Webb escaped in front, the scrap between Filippi and Nagy intensified as the Hyundai couldn’t find a way around the Cupra X Zengo Motorsport machine of Nagy.

Filippi seemed to have a better run out of the narrow chicanes but Nagy was able to get on the power earlier and had Filippi covered throughout the four-lap race.

Webb, meanwhile, was untroubled on his way to a comfortable race win, setting the fastest lap and heading Nagy by 3.141s at the flag, who was relieved at managing to hold off Filippi’s attacks.

“It’ not easy to overtake here, and it’s very narrow. I had a good start and tried to pass Olli but I made a slight mistake and John caught me,” Nagy said.

“I just had to defend all the race, I saw that Olli was quite far away so I was just taking care of John who was very, very quick.”

In Battle 2, it was again the Romeo Ferraris Alfa Romeo – in the hands of Luca Filippi – which got the better start out of the gates as the Italian from the outside of the grid swept around the outside of both Cupra X Zengo Motorsport’s Mattias Ekstrôm and Hyundai Motorsport’s Jean-Karl Vernay to seie the advantage at Turn 1.

Vernay settled into second on exit ahead of Ekström, but the race was soon stopped before the end of the lap due to debris from Filippi’s car being ripped off by the gate.

At the restart – held without the gates and shortened by one lap – Vernay got the jump and led from Ekström and Filippi around the first lap as the trio settled into a rhythm.

The Hyundai maintained the lead throughout but came under pressure from Ekström on the final lap as the Cupra showed a good turn of pace in the closing stages.

But the order remained the same and Vernay, setting the best time of the day so far, came home just under half a second adrift, with Filippi another four tenths back.

For Round 2, Vernay will be up against Webb in Battle 1, Ekström faces Cupra X Zengoo team-mate Nagy in Battle 2 and Battle 3 will be Luca Filippi against namesake John Filippi.

Next up for PURE ETCR are the pair of Pool B Round 1 battles, which are due to begin at 10:25 CET.