Yann Ehrlacher on his penalty: “I think it was fair”

Yann Ehrlacher took a commanding first FIA TCR World Tour victory in the first race of the Mexico season opener. But a controversial pass on his Lynk & Co Cyan Racing team-mate Santiago Urrutia saw him demoted to third following a post-race penalty.

“Yeah, it was a shame, but I think it was fair in the end,” said Ehrlacher to TouringCarTimes.

The Frenchman started second and headed into Turn 1 second behind Urrutia who made a rocket start from fourth to snatch the lead.

“It was a really good race. I was a bit lucky at the start, everyone bogged and I got away normal,” said Urrutia.

The duo then became involved in a tough fight for the lead, swapping places several times until lap 13 when Ehrlacher finally made the move stick.

“Then I didn’t really have the pace to win the race. We tried some things with the car that didn’t work,” said Urrutia.

“I had a clean race with Yann and unlucky for him when he overtook, he was over the line and got the penalty.

“But we got 1-2-3 anyway, so it was a good result for the team. I collected good points from both qualifying and the race, it’s important that we do that today as well.”

The stewards found that Ehrlacher had exceeded the track limits when passing and decided to hand the Frenchman a ten-second penalty which dropped him to third behind Thed Björk and Urrutia.

“I think I provided the best show for TV at least and I’m happy with my pace,” said Ehrlacher.

“My focus is set on preparing for the second race which should be interesting.”