Azcona claims the first ever WTCR win for the new CUPRA

It was a Spanish fiesta at Motorland Aragón, where Mikel Azcona gave the first WTCR victory to the new CUPRA Leon Competición. 
After his double victory last weekend in TCR Europe at Spa-Francorchamps, Azcona continued on his amazing form with an authoritative success; starting Race 2 from the pole he took a lights-to-flag win, the first for him in the current WTCR season, but also the first ever for the new CUPRA and the Zengő Motorsport team in the FIA World Cup.
Before the start, the cars of Bence Boldizs and Aurélien Comte were recovered into the pits after suffering from technical issues during the formation lap, while Norbert Michelisz started from the pit lane after the BRC Racing crew had worked to change the engine of his Hyundai.
Azcona had a perfect getaway as did Yvan Muller while Luca Engstler, starting from the second spot, dropped back to P7; amongst the best starters was Gabriele Tarquini who found a gap to enter third into the first corner, but before the end of the opening lap he was passed by Santiago Urrutia who stuck on the tail of Muller’s car.
Nathanaël Berthon and Race 1 winner Jean-Karl Vernay were the next to pass Tarquini, advancing to fourth and fifth, but at the end of the first lap Vernay’s Alfa Romeo slowed down at the French driver returned to the pits. 
Azcona was leading the field ahead of Muller and Urrutia, having built a small gap of a bit more than one second, while the championship leaders Yann Ehrlacher and Esteban Guerrieri were trying to move up into the order. 
Tom Coronel, who was fighting with the Honda cars of Guerrieri and Néstor Girolami, was the next who had to pit with technical problems, stopping his Audi in a cloud of smoke. 
Azcona continued to lead with a comfortable margin and took the chequered flag three seconds ahead of Muller, with Urrutia, Berthon, Tarquini and Engstler filling the position between three and sixth. Ehrlacher claimed a seventh place that helped him to increase his leading margin in the standings by three more points ahead of Guerrieri who was classified tenth. The gap between them is now of 27 points, while Muller has moved into third, 13 points behind the Argentine and seven ahead of Vernay.
Race 3 will start at 14:15 CET, with Gilles Magnus and Thed Björk sharing the front row.

Race 2
1. Mikel Azcona (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 10 laps
2. Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 2.990
3. Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03), 3.499
3. Nathanaël Berthon (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.613
5. Gabriele Tarquini (BRC Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N), 5.949

Championship points
1. Yann Ehrlacher 183 pts; 2. Esteban Guerrieri 156; 3. Yvan Muller 143 

Picture: WTCR/DPPI