Björk dominates Race 3 in a Hyundai 1-2-3

Thed Björk took a dominant victory in Vila Real’s Race 3 and led home the two other Hyundai cars of Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz.
While the Swede proved to be in a league of his own, showing a superior pace and making his joker lap with a comfortable margin in the early stages, the drivers behind him formed a long line, running nose-to-tail and fighting for the positions from second to fifteenth.
Three safety car periods had a crucial impact on the final results, as most of the drivers were obliged to make their joker lap just before the finishing line.
Tarquini, Michelisz, Pepe Oriola and Mat’o Homola retained their positions – from second to fifth – while Yvan Muller dropped out of the points as he was passed by Frédéric Vervisch, Yann Ehrlacher, Benjamin Lessennes, Aurélien Panis and Jean-Karl Vernay.
The safety car was deployed once when Norbert Nágy’s Cupra crashed on lap 4, a second time when Fabrizio Giovanardi destroyed the front suspension of his Alfa Romeo entering in the joker lap roundabout on lap 10 and finally when Gordon Shedden’s Audi and John Filippi’s Cupra stopped on the track. This left only one lap of racing in which a train of half-a-dozen cars had to make the joker lap.
With the championship leader Muller scoreless and Vernay pocketing only one point, the gaps between the top positions of the standings got closer. Muller remained on top with 182 points, Ehrlacher and Tarquini are on equal points and reduced their gap to 22. Björk climbed to fourth, 34 points off the leader and Vermay dropped from third to fifth, two points behind the Swede. 
The WTCR will resume at Slovakia Ring, 14/15 July.