Race Report

Ehrlacher battles to double-points finish in Portugal

24 Jun 2018

WTCR Race of Portugal

Circuito Internacional de Vila Real, Portugal

WTCR 2018, Round 5

Yann Ehrlacher battled to a pair of top-10 finishes on the streets of Vila Real to keep himself in contention for the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup.

The Frenchman and his ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport team-mates Esteban Guerrieri and James Thompson were innocent victims of a major opening-lap incident on Saturday that involved nearly the entire 27-car grid.

While Esteban’s car was able to take Saturday’s re-started race, the Honda Civic Type R TCRs of Yann and James looked beyond repair.

Incredible work overnight by the German team miraculously returned Yann’s car to near-showroom condition, enabling him to qualify fifth and finish the day’s two races in seventh; results that keep him second in the championship at the season’s midway point.

After finishing second on Saturday, Esteban’s car suffered a mechanical issue in qualifying that restricted him to 19th on the grid.

Having been put into the wall in Race Two by another driver, the Argentinian had to start Race Three from the back and came home 13th; the allowed ‘repair time’ not being sufficient to fix the damage to the left-front corner. James’ car was unfortunately too-badly damaged to fix on-site.

Belgian teenager Benjamin Lessennes scored a fine eighth place in Race Three for Boutsen Ginion Racing.

Having started 12th, he took his joker lap early. His team’s canny strategy paid off as several safety-car periods meant that the majority of the field were forced to wait until the final lap, which gained him four places in one go.

Team-mate Tom Coronel showed top-six pace in morning qualifying, but was unlucky to suffer front punctures in Q1 and both races, which ended his chances of adding to his points total.

Portuguese wildcard Jose Rodrigues kept his nose clean as attrition levels were high. Driving an older-spec Civic Type R TCR, the Target Competition racer qualified 23rd and finished Race Two in 16th place.

He was on the verge of a points-scoring top-10 finish in Race Three when he sustained a last-lap front puncture, which put him in the wall. Although he did not cross the finish line, he was classified in 15th spot.

The next WTCR round takes place at the Slovakia Ring near Bratislava, on July 13-14.

2018 WTCR Race of Portugal

Honda Pro Racing / David Noels

Yann Ehrlacher ⁶⁸

“I cannot even begin to describe how amazing the mechanics are in this team. The worked all night without sleep and got my car ready for today’s races. It was a fast car too and if I hadn’t made a mistake on my Q3 lap, I could have been on the front row. Two seventh places could be very important for the championship, because it could easily have been two non-starts today. I’m second in the points and we have a fast car, so there’s every reason to stay optimistic for the next event in Slovakia.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Esteban Guerrieri ⁸⁶

“Yesterday we had a great result with a podium, but today didn’t go so well. A couple of little mechanical issues in qualifying left me 19th and put me in fightback mode for the Races. Unfortunately, in Race Two, Frederic Vervisch made a completely amateur move and simply drove me into the wall. The car had too much damage to fix without breaking Parc Ferme and that meant I started last in Race Three. From there, it’s impossible to recover.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Benjamin Lessennes ⁶³

“I feel pretty good about today. On the one hand, I missed the reversed-grid pole by just two hundredths of a second, but I did the maximum possible with the car in that session. In Race Two I was battling with Nathanael Berthon on the first lap and he came across on me way too late and we had contact, which put me out. In Race Three I went from 12th to eighth because we made a great call on the joker lap strategy, and I have to thank my team for that.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing

Tom Coronel ⁹

“It’s been a frustrating day. I had a front puncture in qualifying, so I hit the wall and had to start at the back. Then I got front punctures in both of the races, which made a good result possible. It’s a real shame because in Q1 the car was extremely fast. I lost a couple of laps because of minor track-limit violations, but my best lap would have put me in Q2 with a top-six time and that speed was genuine as well.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing

Jose Rodrigues ²⁶

“What a day! I’ve raced here five times now, and that final race today was by far the toughest I’ve had. The heat was incredible and my car is heavier and less powerful than anything else here due to the compensation weight, wildcard weight and BoP, but despite this, I think I could have points in Race Three because I was up from 24th to 12th and keeping pace with Tom Coronel and Esteban Guerrieri. Unfortunately, I got a puncture and hit the wall, but I’m so pleased with the job we’ve done as a team today in the circumstances.”

Target Competition

Dominik Greiner

Team Manager

“Today’s results were only possible because of the incredible effort that the entire team made to get Yann’s car ready. They didn’t sleep and they worked all night and those two seventh places might be the most important results of the year when we get to the crunch time for the championship. They’re superhuman and deserve all the credit. Unfortunately, James’s car wasn’t repairable, and Esteban had some misfortune too, but we’re still in the hunt and we’ll bounce back in Slovakia.”

ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport

Olivia Boutsen

Team Manager

“It’s been a very hectic weekend, but Benjamin has come through very well with a strong eighth position in Race Three. We had some luck because the number of safety cars in Race Three meant that our joker-lap strategy worked perfectly, but it was also our decision to get him to take it when he did, and that paid off. It’s a real shame that the punctures stopped Tom from scoring the points that he deserved, because he had strong pace today.”

Boutsen Ginion Racing

Andreas Gummerer

Team Principal

“In the circumstances, today’s race results were OK. It was incredibly tough on track with the temperatures and with a lot of hard racing, so Jose did a good job to be classified in both races. We made some improvements overnight and they definitely made things better today. The reality is we have the oldest car here and the BoP and compensation weight also makes it the heaviest, so keeping up with some of the other cars was a big challenge. It was an interesting experience to come here as a wildcard entrant.”

Target Competition

Mads Fischer

TCR Project Leader, JAS Motorsport

“Today showed what incredible levels of team spirit exist within our customer WTCR teams. The Münnich team did an amazing job to fix Yann’s car and Boutsen Ginion Racing have also done a very good job to get both cars on-track today. Yann is still in the hunt and I’m sure the Civic Type R TCR will be competitive when we get to Slovakia next month. I think this weekend we’ve seen a lot of cars take a lot of damage and I’d like to see less contact in races from now on, because nobody benefits when these kinds of weekends happen.”

JAS Motorsport

24 Jun 2018

WTCR Race of Portugal

Circuito Internacional de Vila Real, Portugal

WTCR 2018, Round 5

Sunday 24 Jun 2018, 17:58 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Thed Björk	11	SWE	25	YMR	Hyundai	15 laps
2	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	20	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+3.193
3	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	16	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+3.640
4	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	13	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+4.170
5	Mato Homola	70	SLK	11	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+4.781
6	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	10	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+5.205
7	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	9	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+5.796
8	Benjamin Lessennes	63	BEL	8	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+6.099
9	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	7	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+6.710
10	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	6	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+7.216
11	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	5	YMR	Hyundai	+7.534
12	Edgar Florindo	13	AND	4	Veloso Motorsport	Cupra	+8.965
13	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	3	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+9.318
14	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	2	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+9.333
15	Jose Rodrigues	26	POR	1	Target Competition	Honda	+1 lap
16	John Filippi	27	FRA	0	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+DNF
17	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	0	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+DNF
18	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	0	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+DNF
19	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+DNF
20	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNF
21	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	0	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+DNF
22	Gianni Morbidelli	10	ITA	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+DNS
23	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNS
24	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	0	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+DNS

Sunday 24 Jun 2018, 16:20 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Mato Homola	70	SLK	25	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot
2	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	20	YMR	Hyundai	+0.764
3	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	16	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+2.025
4	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	13	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+3.635
5	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	11	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+4.144
6	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	10	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+6.335
7	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	9	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+6.413
8	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	8	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+6.975
9	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	7	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+7.284
10	Thed Björk	11	SWE	6	YMR	Hyundai	+7.705
11	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	5	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+13.105
12	John Filippi	27	FRA	4	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+14.666
13	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	3	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+15.376
14	Edgar Florindo	13	AND	2	Veloso Motorsport	Cupra	+25.558
15	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	1	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+29.649
16	Jose Rodrigues	26	POR	0	Target Competition	Honda	+37.198
17	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+58.399
18	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	0	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+DNF
19	Benjamin Lessennes	63	BEL	0	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+DNF
20	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+DNF
21	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	0	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+DNF
22	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	0	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+DNF
23	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+DNF
24	Gianni Morbidelli	10	ITA	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+DNF

Sunday 24 Jun 2018, 10:39 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Thed Björk	11	SWE	YMR	Hyundai	1:59.824
2	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	2:00.164
3	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	2:00.319
4	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	2:00.426
5	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	2:01.266
6	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	2:00.627
7	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	2:00.636
8	Mato Homola	70	SLK	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	2:00.637
9	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	YMR	Hyundai	2:01.011
10	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	2:01.114
11	John Filippi	27	FRA	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	2:01.131
12	Benjamin Lessennes	63	BEL	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	2:01.135
13	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	2:01.626
14	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	2:01.654
15	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	2:01.721
16	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	2:01.750
17	Edgar Florindo	13	AND	Veloso Motorsport	Cupra	2:01.809
18	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	2:01.983
19	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	2:02.345
20	Gianni Morbidelli	10	ITA	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	2:02.421
21	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	2:02.726
22	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	2:03.115
23	Jose Rodrigues	26	POR	Target Competition	Honda	2:03.593
24	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	2:06.503

Saturday 23 Jun 2018, 18:51 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	25	YMR	Hyundai	13 laps
2	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	20	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2.060
3	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	16	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+10.596
4	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	13	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+12.925
5	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	11	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+13.926
6	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	10	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+14.186
7	Benjamin Lessennes	63	BEL	9	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+16.696
8	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	8	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+19.937
9	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	7	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+20.169
10	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	6	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+20.678
11	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	5	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+21.728
12	Mato Homola	70	SLK	4	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+22.669
13	Edgar Florindo	13	AND	3	Veloso Motorsport	Cupra	+50.040
14	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	2	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+50.451
15	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	1	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+1:05.510
16	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	0	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+DNF
17	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	0	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+DNF
18	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	0	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+DNF
19	Jose Rodrigues	26	POR	0	Target Competition	Honda	+DNF
20	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+DNS
21	James Thompson	15	GBR	0	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+DNS
22	Thed Björk	11	SWE	0	YMR	Hyundai	+DNS
23	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	0	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+DNS
24	Gianni Morbidelli	10	ITA	0	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+DNS
25	John Filippi	27	FRA	0	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+DNS
26	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+DNS
27	Rob Huff	12	GBR	0	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+DNS

Saturday 23 Jun 2018, 14:00 Europe/London

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Team	Constructor Constr.	Time/Gap
1	Rob Huff	12	GBR	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	2:00.924
2	Mehdi Bennani	25	MAR	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+2:00.951
3	Norbert Michelisz	5	HUN	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+2:01.280
4	Yann Ehrlacher	68	FRA	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:01.445
5	Thed Björk	11	SWE	YMR	Hyundai	+2:01.683
6	Yvan Muller	48	FRA	YMR	Hyundai	+2:01.785
7	John Filippi	27	FRA	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+2:02.075
8	Esteban Guerrieri	86	ARG	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:02.109
9	Gabriele Tarquini	1	ITA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai	+2:02.168
10	Jean-Karl Vernay	69	FRA	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:02.357
11	James Thompson	15	GBR	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda	+2:02.540
12	Zsolt Szabo	66	HUN	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+2:02.592
13	Pepe Oriola	74	SPA	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra	+2:02.742
14	Benjamin Lessennes	63	BEL	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+2;02.882
15	Aurelien Comte	7	AND	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+2:02.942
16	Tom Coronel	9	NDL	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda	+2:03.211
17	Nathanael Berthon	23	FRA	Comtoyou Racing	Audi	+2:03.223
18	Gordon Shedden	52	GBR	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:03.333
19	Frederic Vervisch	22	BEL	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:03.390
20	Fabrizio Giovanardi	88	ITA	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+2:03.412
21	Aurélien Panis	21	FRA	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi	+2:03.469
22	Mato Homola	70	SLK	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot	+2:03.479
23	Norbert Nagy	8	HUN	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra	+2:03.710
24	Gianni Morbidelli	10	ITA	Mulsanne Srl	Alfa Romeo	+2:03.958
25	Denis Dupont	20	BEL	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi	+2:04.450
26	Edgar Florindo	13	AND	Veloso Motorsport	Cupra	+2:05.462
27	Jose Rodrigues	26	POR	Target Competition	Honda	+No time

Driver Standings

Sunday, 24 Jun 2018

#	Driver	Num	Nationality Nat.	Points Pts.	Team	Constructor Constr.
1	Yvan MULLER	48	FRA	182	YMR	Hyundai
2	Gabriele TARQUINI	1	ITA	160	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai
3	Yann EHRLACHER	68	FRA	160	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda
4	Thed BJöRK	11	SWE	148	YMR	Hyundai
5	Jean-Karl VERNAY	69	FRA	146	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi
6	Norbert MICHELISZ	5	HUN	135	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai
7	Rob HUFF	12	GBR	130	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen
8	Esteban GUERRIERI	86	ARG	129	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda
9	Pepe ORIOLA	74	SPA	113	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra
10	Frederic VERVISCH	22	BEL	77	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi
11	Gordon SHEDDEN	52	GBR	70	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi
12	Aurelien COMTE	7	AND	68	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot
13	Mehdi BENNANI	25	MAR	63	Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen
14	Benjamin LESSENNES	63	BEL	48	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda
15	Mato HOMOLA	70	SLK	38	DG Sport Competition	Peugeot
16	Dániel NAGY		HUN	36	M1RA	Hyundai
17	James THOMPSON	15	GBR	27	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda
18	Nathanael BERTHON	23	FRA	16	Comtoyou Racing	Audi
19	Tom CORONEL	9	NDL	16	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda
20	Rene RAST	33	GER	10	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi
21	Aurélien PANIS	21	FRA	8	Comtoyou DHL Team Cupra Racing	Audi
22	John FILIPPI	27	FRA	3	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	Cupra
23	Zsolt SZABO	66	HUN	2	Zengo Motorsport	Cupra