Esteban Guerrieri took another lights-to-flag victory, the second for him so far in the season, as he managed to keep Benjamin Leuchter at bay throughout the WTCR Race 2 at Zandvoort.
The Argentine made a perfect start from pole position of the top-ten reverse grid and never looked back, ignoring Leuchter who kept on flashing the headlights of his Volkswagen Golf GTI in the vain attempt of distracting him. Leuchter’s teammate Johan Kristoffersson completed the podium in third position, giving Volkswagen and Sébastien Loeb Racing their best result so far.
Local hero Nicky Catsburg secured the fourth place, ahead of the reigning TCR Europe champion Mikel Azcona who is building himself a solid reputation as a fast and reliable driver. Augusto Farfus, Norbert Michelisz, Yann Ehrlacher, Yvan Muller and Néstor Girolami rounded off the top ten.
Muller has something to regret, as he made a mistake on lap 4, went wide at the final turn and lost four positions.
The race was disrupted once by the safety car that circulated from lap 2 to lap 4, while the marshals recovered Attila Tassi’s car that was stranded in the gravel after being punted by Tom Coronel.
Guerrieri’s victory also meant that the Argentine has stretched his leadership in the standings to twenty points over his fellow countryman and teammate Girolami, while Björk is currently third, a further eight points adrift.
Race 3 will start at 16:35 local time (CET).
Race 2
- Esteban Guerrieri (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic FK7), 14 laps
- Benjamin Leuchter (Sébastien Loeb Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 0.263
- Johan Kristoffersson (Sébastien Loeb Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 0.711
- Nicky Catsburg (BRC Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 1.659
- Mikel Azcona (PWR Racing, CUPRA), 2.035
Championship points
- Guerrieri 153 pts
- Girolami 133
- Björk 125