WTCR 2021: Pau-Arnos

There was not much time left to rest after the return of the Touring Car World Cup to the Czech Republic, as the field had to travel in just a few days to the track in Pau-Arnos, France, about 1700-1800 kilometers from Mosti. There was reason to worry about the choice of location due to the level of old-school character that was rampant up in the differences before the weekend, something the tournament, listed at a higher level, had never seen before.

We had to get to our hearts twice in the first free practice: first Mikel Azcona was pirouette with the Zengő Motorsport Cup at the sledge, and then Luca Engstler saw a spectacular slip at bend 7 - the young Hyundai pilot's stylish team named after him. Fortunately, none of the cases involved a major car breakdown, while Yvan Muller took the lead with Lynk & Có, Attila Tassi (Honda) was fifth and Norbert Michelisz (Hyundai) was eighth, and Bence Boldizs (Cupra) opened at the end of the line.

Azcona also experienced a steeper situation in the second free practice, as did Néstor Girolami (Honda) or Gilles Magnus (Audi). In any case, Saturday was dominated by Lynk & Co, as after the two free practice sessions, the Chinese manufacturer also took the lead in the time trial. Yvan Muller won the pole in the WTCR for the first time since 2019, followed by two Hyundai drivers behind Jean-Karl Vernay and Michelisz, who have already scored valuable points in Q1. In contrast, Tassi and, with one exception, the Zengő Cupras said goodbye as early as the end of Q1.

The first race was soon drowned out on Sunday, essentially with the departure of the safety car needed to expel Tiago Monteiro - with the support of Honda's Portuguese Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co), France was still under investigation for the case. The change of position on the field then took place only by team instructions, which could have been particularly painful for the Hungarians, because Michelisz was instructed to hand over his seat in favor of Vernay and elegantly pulled aside in the finish line.

After ten races and ten special winners in a row, the WTCR's diversity series was broken, as Frédéric Vervisch (Audi) was able to easily turn his reverse grid pole into a win except for the start. Behind the Belgian driver of Comtoyou Racing, Thed Björkö (Lynk & Co) was flagged second by the checkered flag, and Michelisz teammate Gabriele Tarquini was at the bottom of the podium. Tassi scored four points in 12th place, with Zengő Motorsport only finishing in the top fifteen with Mikel Azcona.

In the second race, the winner of the time trial, Yvan Muller, could start from the lead, but he was immediately knocked out by Vernay while Michelisz held the third place behind them. The Hungarian's third podium finish this year was almost out of the question, when he started complaining about vibration five laps before the end, so the competition, which had been boring until then, was suddenly on top of his head.

He lost a significant pace with Hyundai, so he was soon followed by Urrutia, who even pushed him at bend 10, and then Guerrieri and Vervisch hit each other, leaving Argentina behind the defending champion. After Uruguay, Vervisch, who benefited from the whole rooster, also overtook Michelisz, while the duo of Ehrlacher and Guerrieri also began to taste each other very bitterly. The duel between the two of them really bit off the sledge, resulting in the rubber bale being knocked out as well, which is why the safety car came.

(Source: vezess.hu / photo: pixabay.com)