Yann Ehrlacher clashes with Santiago Urrutia to Race 1 victory in Spain

Yann Ehrlacher claimed victory in the first FIA TCR World Tour race at Valencia in Spain, leading a 1-2-3 for Lynk & Co Cyan Racing after contact with team-mate Santiago Urrutia at the start.

Ehrlacher made a better start than Urrutia as the lights went out, with the two banging wheels in the process, with Ma Qing Hua in third place and Ignacio Montenegro (Honda) in fourth.

Montenegro got sandwiched between Hyundai driver Norbert Michelisz and Cupra driver Eric Gené during the first sequence of corners and hit a tyre stack.

Montenegro retired to the pits at the end of the opening lap with front-end damage while Gené received a ten-second penalty for the incidents.

BRC Racing driver Néstor Girolami and Cyan Racing driver Thed Björk benefited from the incidents in the initial stages of the race to climb up to sixth and seventh respectively, with championship leader Esteban Guerrieri in eighth position from 13th on the grid.

Björk then overtook Girolami for sixth position on lap seven.

The safety car was called into action on lap ten as Honda driver Marco Butti stopped on track at Turn 12.

The race went green again on lap 12, with Ma overtaking team-mate Urrutia for second place at Turn 2. The Uruguayan driver managed to regain the position a lap later.

The three leaders opened a gap over Michelisz who was closely followed by Gené and Björk.

Gené came to the pits at the end of lap 16 due to a technical issue, returning to the track shortly after but dropped down to finish 15th.

Ehrlacher won as the chequered flag fell, with Urrutia and Ma Qing Hua completing the podium.

Michelisz was fourth ahead of Björk, who started eleventh, and Girolami. Julien Briché (Hyundai) finished seventh, with Ruben Volt (Honda) next. Honda drivers Guerrieri and Felipe Fernández completed the top ten.

Mikel Azcona had a dreadful race from 14th on the grid following a three-place grid penalty for not having respected the red pit exit light during free practice two. After a strong start, Azcona pitted for repairs after the opening lap action to finish the race in 16th place, four laps down.

“I did a good start and from then on, it was a question of managing the tyres,” Ehrlacher told TouringCarTimes. “But it was a very long race.”

Urrutia is the new leader of the championship with 109 points, four ahead of Guerrieri and eight over Björk.

The FIA TCR World Tour field returns to the track for Race 2 at 10:40 CEST on Sunday morning.