Guerrieri seals vital WTCR Sepang win to set up title showdown
Esteban Guerrieri ensured the World Touring Car Cup title fight will go down to the season finale by claiming a vital win in a heavily disrupted second Sepang race
The Honda driver dominated the race either side of a red-flag stoppage that lasted more than an hour, first by charging through the pack in his Civic Type R and then by reclaiming the lead from his team-mate after the restart to earn his fourth victory of 2019.
Guerrieri had stormed from his ninth-place grid position into the lead before half of the opening lap had been completed, though the race was soon neutralised when Nicky Catsburg's car caught fire.
Catsburg had, moments earlier, caused a collision with his BRC Racing team-mate Norbert Michelisz's title rival Yvan Muller.
Four-time world champion Muller, who like Guerrieri had climbed the order, was fourth when he was hit from behind by Catsburg's Hyundai.
Catsburg, on slick front tyres, followed Muller's line into the Turn 9 hairpin but then moved for the inside on the approach to the corner and T-boned the Cyan Racing driver's Lynk & Co 03.
Muller - who said he was Catsburg's "target" and had been hit "three corners before" - continued, but Catsburg stopped on the grass runoff on the exit of the corner before a fire emerged from the bonnet of his i30 N.
Though the fire was extinguished and Catsburg's car was recovered, a 56-minute delay ensued before the race was resumed under a safety car.
The order was also taken from the previous sector, which meant Guerrieri took the restart in second behind his team-mate Nestor Girolami, with Muller fifth and points leader Michelisz 13th.
Guerrieri took the lead shortly after the race resumed on lap four, with Girolami measuring his pace to ensure his Argentinian compatriot could make a break at the front.
The Munnich Motorsport driver did just that and, even though Girolami was passed by Mikel Azcona's PWR Cupra late on, Guerrieri was more than 10 seconds up the road by that point.
A late safety car, deployed when Attila Tassi stopped his KCMG Honda on track, guaranteed Guerrieri the win, which helped him reduce his arrears in the title race to 10 points.
Behind Azcona, double World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson also found a way past Girolami and completed the podium in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Girolami finished fourth ahead of the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce of Kevin Ceccon, while a sixth place finish for Muller signalled the end of his title bid.
Michelisz finished eighth - behind Muller's nephew Yann Ehrlacher - after recovering from an off on the opening lap.
The Hungarian locked up at the Turn 9 hairpin moments after Catsburg and Muller had collided, though was able to rejoin the circuit after dragging his Hyundai i30 N out of the grass.
He took the restart in 13th, but made up two positions in the opening half of the first racing lap then passed Tiago Monteiro exiting the final corner, despite receiving a hit from the KCMG Honda.
Augusto Farfus then moved over to give Michelisz another position, while the Hungarian also overtook Rob Huff's SLR Volkswagen to complete his recovery.
Michelisz will start the final race from pole and shares the front row with Guerrieri.
Huff and fellow SLR driver Benjamin Leuchter made it three Volkswagens in the top 10, while the points were completed by Aurelien Panis (Comtoyou Cupra), Monteiro, the fourth VW of Mehdi Bennani and Audi drivers Jean-Karl Vernay and Niels Langeveld.
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Race two result - 11 laps
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 28m45.146s |
2 | Mikel Azcona | PWR Racing | Cupra | 1.023s |
3 | Johan Kristoffersson | SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen | 1.368s |
4 | Nestor Girolami | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 2.198s |
5 | Kevin Ceccon | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 2.313s |
6 | Yvan Muller | Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co | 2.500s |
7 | Yann Ehrlacher | Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co | 3.894s |
8 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Squadra Corse | Hyundai | 4.498s |
9 | Rob Huff | SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen | 5.033s |
10 | Benjamin Leuchter | SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen | 6.270s |
11 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Cupra | Cupra | 6.966s |
12 | Tiago Monteiro | KCMG | Honda | 8.821s |
13 | Mehdi Bennani | SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen | 9.511s |
14 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 10.095s |
15 | Niels Langeveld | Comtoyou Audi | Audi | 10.705s |
16 | Mitchell Cheah | Team Engstler | Hyundai | 11.274s |
17 | Ma Qinghua | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 13.607s |
18 | Joao Paulo de Oliveira | KC Motorgroup | Honda | 14.408s |
19 | Augusto Farfus | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 14.667s |
20 | Tom Coronel | Comtoyou Cupra | Cupra | 16.685s |
21 | Andy Priaulx | Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co | 17.847s |
22 | Hafizh Syahrin | Team Engstler | Hyundai | 18.159s |
23 | Thed Bjork | Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co | 19.074s |
24 | Douglas Khoo | Viper Niza Racing | Cupra | 20.589s |
25 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Audi | Audi | 21.395s |
26 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Squadra Corse | Hyundai | 1m10.622s |
- | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | Retirement |
- | Attila Tassi | KCMG | Honda | Retirement |
- | Daniel Haglof | PWR Racing | Cupra | Retirement |
- | Nicky Catsburg | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | Retirement |
Drivers' championship
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Norbert Michelisz | 0.359 |
2 | Esteban Guerrieri | 0.349 |
3 | Yvan Muller | 0.325 |
4 | Thed Bjork | 0.288 |
5 | Mikel Azcona | 0.224 |
6 | Gabriele Tarquini | 0.222 |
7 | Yann Ehrlacher | 0.22 |
8 | Johan Kristoffersson | 0.217 |
9 | Nestor Girolami | 0.214 |
10 | Jean-Karl Vernay | 0.204 |
11 | Rob Huff | 0.204 |
12 | Frederic Vervisch | 0.178 |
13 | Nicky Catsburg | 0.165 |
14 | Kevin Ceccon | 0.144 |
15 | Augusto Farfus | 0.142 |
16 | Ma Qinghua | 0.133 |
17 | Aurelien Panis | 0.127 |
18 | Andy Priaulx | 0.117 |
19 | Benjamin Leuchter | 0.102 |
20 | Tiago Monteiro | 0.099 |
21 | Niels Langeveld | 0.063 |
22 | Tom Coronel | 0.063 |
23 | Daniel Haglof | 0.055 |
24 | Attila Tassi | 0.055 |
25 | Mehdi Bennani | 0.039 |
26 | Gordon Shedden | 0.034 |
27 | Joao Paulo de Oliveira | 0.011 |
28 | Robert Dahlgren | 0.003 |
29 | Luca Engstler | 0.002 |
Teams' championship
Pos | Team | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | 614 |
2 | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | 581 |
3 | All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport | 563 |
4 | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | 339 |
5 | SLR Volkswagen | 321 |
6 | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | 310 |
7 | PWR Racing | 283 |
8 | Team Mulsanne | 277 |
9 | SLR VW Motorsport | 244 |
10 | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | 241 |
11 | Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | 240 |
12 | Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | 190 |
13 | KCMG | 155 |
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