Morgan beats Coronel in the final sprint at Oschersleben
Wolf-Power Racing’s Alex Morgan snatched his maiden TCR Europe victory in the second race at Oschersleben. The Briton led for the whole distance and managed to reject all overtaking attempts from Tom Coronel; eventually he won by a margin of only three tenths, giving CUPRA its first win of the season. Coronel encored his second place of Race 1, while Josh Files completed the podium with another third place. This meant that he further stretched his leadership in the standing to a comfortable 78 points over Luca Engstler who has moved back into the second place. The young German started from 12th on the grid and recovered to finish seventh, although is still under investigation for making contact with Nelson Panciatici.
Julien Briché, still placed third in the standings ten points behind Engstler, battled with his Peugeot fellow drivers Aurélien Comte and Jimmy Clairet and eventually was classified 14th.
Touring Car rookie Dominik Baumann confirmed the excellent impression given in yesterday’s race and played once again the perfect teammate to Files, protecting his shoulders and finishing in fourth position.
At the start, Morgan sprinted from the pole while Coronel, from third on the grid, pipped Files to take second place. On lap 4, Engstler stole seventh place from Panciatici after they made contact. Mat’o Homola, Race 1 winner Daniel Lloyd and Davit Kajaia retired with technical issues, while Gianni Morbidelli was stopped by a blown front tyre.
Behind the leading duo, Files followed, his back guarded by Baumann, and Santiago Urrutia overtook Jessica Bäckman for fifth.
The TCR Europe Series will resume after the summer break at Barcelona on 20/22 September.
Race 2
1. Alex Morgan (Wolf-Power Racing CUPRA), 16 laps
2. Tom Coronel (Boutsen-Gionion Racing, Honda Civic FK7), 0.346
3. Josh Files (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 1.294
4. Dominik Baumann (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 1.682
5. Santiago Urrutia (Team WRT, Audi RS 3 LMS), 2.342
Championship points
1. Files 254; 2. Engstler 176; 3. Briché 166
