The Honda drivers made a clean sweep in WTCR’s third race at the Hungaroring, as Esteban Guerrieri, Tiago Monteiro and Néstor Girolami took command at the start and ran in close formation to eventually fill the podium.
The championship leader Yann Ehrlacher drove cautiously and finished in eighth position, meaning that the 40-point advantage in the standings he had over Guerrieri before the race was reduced to 22.
At the start Guerrieri got away from the pole ahead of Monteiro and Girolami, while Attila Tassi – second on the grid – was caught in the fight for the positions and dropped behind Jean-Karl Vernay. The leading quartet ran away, while Tassi tried to defend P5 from the attacks of Mikel Azcona.
The first laps were processional, then in lap 6, Azcona overtook Tassi for P5 into Turn 1 and began to close in on Vernay, while Tassi was now chased by the Lynk & Co cars of Ehrlacher and Yvan Muller.
Halfway through the race, Gabriele Tarquini moved into P8, as he passed Santiago Urrutia and Muller; moments later Norbert Michelisz passed Urrutia for tenth, but the Uruguayan counterattacked and retook the position. Michelisz went wide and found himself defending from Nathanaël Berthon and Then Björk, but then Urrutia had to pit with a flat front tyre and rejoined one lap behind.
In lap 11, Azcona passed Vernay for P4 and Tarquini overtook Ehrlacher for P7.
There were no further changes and so Guerrieri scored his third win of the season from Monteiro and Girolami, while Azcona finished fourth ahead of Vernay, Tassi, Tarquini and Ehrlacher.
The WTCR will resume at Motorland Aragón on October 31st/November 1st.
Race 3
1. Esteban Guerrieri (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 15 laps
2. Tiago Monteiro (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.478
3. Néstor Girolami (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.869
4. Mikel Azcona (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 1.715
5. Jean-Karl Vernay (Team Mulsanne, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 2.055
Championship points
1. Yann Ehrlacher 169 pts
2. Esteban Guerrieri 147
3. Yvan Muller 114