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Yann Ehrlacher wins chaotic wet second Zhuzhou race

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Yann Ehrlacher came out on top in a chaotic second FIA TCR World Tour race at Zhuzhou which was heavily affected by slippery conditions and a late safety car session.

Néstor Girolami made the best start as the lights went out to beat the reversed grid pole sitter Santiago Urrutia into Turn 1.

The BRC Hyundai driver did however exceed the track limits heading into Turn 2 and the stewards deemed that Girolami had to hand the position back to the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver.

As Girolami conceded the lead to Urrutia, Mikel Azcona got himself right into the fight which resulted in contact between the two Hyundai team-mates.

As Girolami tried to switch back on Azcona, the contact resulted in the loss of the front bumper of Girolami and the rear bumper of Azcona.

Azcona came out on top of the fight while Girolami dropped to third and Urrutia sailed away in a comfortable lead.

Title contender Thed Björk was on the move early in the race, making his way from tenth to fourth by the end of lap five.

Ehrlacher was also making his way from sixth on the grid, passing Girolami for second place on lap seven.

Title contender Esteban Guerrieri had a dreadful race, pitting for wets on lap three which dropped him down to the back of the field.

And the GOAT Racing driver failed to make any progress on the wet tyres and then stopped on track with a technical issue on lap ten which brought the safety car out on track.

This eliminated Urrutia’s massive ten-second lead and the Uruguayan driver immediately handed over the lead to team-mate Ehrlacher as the race restarted.

And the restart kicked off furious action for the positions behind leading driver Ehrlacher.

Björk and Girolami made contact several times in the fight for second place, enabling Azcona to snatch second place as Björk settled in third.

Ehrlacher won the race by just over three seconds over Azcona as Björk completed the podium.

A battle-scarred Girolami came home in fourth ahead of Aurélien Comte while Urrutia passed Will Brown on the final lap for sixth place.

Ma Qing Hua finished eighth ahead of Ignacio Montenegro and Ryan MacMillan who came to a halt just after the finishing line due to a broken suspension following contact in the last couple of corners.

Reigning champion Norbert Michelisz, who was involved in the top fight earlier in the race, was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage which dropped him down to 13th place.

Ehrlacher’s win has extended his points lead to 35 over team-mate Björk while Guerrieri’s title hopes continue to fade in third place.

The Honda driver trails Ehrlacher by 83 points with 90 points left from the remaining races.

The third and final race of the weekend starts at 16:40 local time/09:40 CET.