Yann Ehrlacher took his ALL-INKL.com Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR to a hard-fought and well-managed victory in the opening race at Zandvoort, excelling throughout a race interrupted by a red flag and two safety car periods to not put a foot wrong.
Starting the first race of the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup Race of the Netherlands from second on the grid, a fantastic start immediately catapulted the Frenchman into the lead. It was anything but a straightforward race though as an interruption on the opening lap led to a red flag, negating his lead and forcing him to do it all over again.
As Ehrlacher edged away from his rivals a second time, a further two safety car periods did all they could to challenge the dominance of the Münnich entry. Each time Yann managed the restart perfectly, even when the final interruption came just two laps from the flag, annulling his two second lead in a flash.
His victory today marks his second of the season and the third for the ALL-INKL.com Münnich squad.
Behind him, Boutsn Ginion Racing’s Benjamin Lessennes was looking comfortable in fifth until a judgement on a jump-start enforced a drive-through penalty, demoting him to 20th. Serving his penalty shortly after the restart, it put him way behind the pack and meant he first had to catch the pack and therefore wasn’t able to make much progress.
Münnich’s Esteban Guerrieri started tenth and was able to climb to sixth in his Civic Type R TCR, ahead of Boutsen’s Tom Coronel, whilst James Thompson was also able to climb a couple of places to finish 12th.
Tomorrow’s running, during the Dutch Bank Holiday, gets underway with the second qualifying session at 0830hrs and is followed by races two and three at 1215hrs and 1635hrs respectively.