Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia

Nurburgring WTCC: Bjork wins Race 1, Monteiro suffers puncture

Volvo driver Thed Bjork took his second win of the WTCC season in the opening race at the Nurburgring, while punctures on the final lap took out both Honda’s Tiago Monteiro and Volvo’s Nestor Girolami.

Thed Björk, Polestar Cyan Racing, Volvo S60 Polestar TC1

Thed Björk, Polestar Cyan Racing, Volvo S60 Polestar TC1

FIA WTCC

Thed Björk, Polestar Cyan Racing, Volvo S60 Polestar TC1
Thed Björk, Polestar Cyan Racing, Volvo S60 Polestar TC1
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing, Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
Ryo Michigami, Honda Racing Team JAS, Honda Civic WTCC
Tom Coronel, Roal Motorsport, Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
Thed Björk, Polestar Cyan Racing, Volvo S60 Polestar TC1

Bjork catapulted into third from sixth on the grid in his Volvo, while polesitter Girolami held off the Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen of Mehdi Bennani into the first corner to lead.

A trio of moves took place at the Dottinger Hohe straight at the end of the first lap. Bjork passed Bennani’s Citroen for second; Tom Chilton in his Citroen passed Guerrieri’s Chevrolet for fourth; and Rob Huff in the Munnich Citroen got ahead of Monteiro’s Honda for sixth.

On the second lap, Bjork slipstreamed past teammate Girolami to take the lead again at Dottinger, with Huff scything past Guerrieri’s Chevrolet for fourth.

It was then drama again for Monteiro at the Nurburgring, with the Portuguese driver suffering a puncture for the second year in a row on the final lap of the opening race, dropping out of sixth position.

Girolami suffered a puncture soon after himself and dropped out of second.

Bjork went on to take the win by 2.5s from Bennani, with Huff grabbing third from Chilton on the Dottinger Hohe straight on the final lap.

Guerrieri held on for fifth from the Volvo of Nicky Catsburg, who passed Norbert Michelisz on the final lap as the Honda driver backed off to protect his car for the second race, which he begins from pole.

Tom Coronel was eight in his ROAL Chevrolet, followed by Yann Ehrlacher's RC Lada and John Filippi's SLR Citroen.

Monteiro continues to lead the championship, but his lead has been cut to 22 points. Bjork is now in second, with Volvo teammate Nicky Catsburg five points behind.

Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes

Race 1 Results:

ClaDriverChassisTimeGapPoints
1 sweden Thed Björk  Volvo -   25
2 morocco Mehdi Bennani  Citroën 2.538 2.538 18
3 united_kingdom Rob Huff  Citroën 3.096 3.096 15
4 united_kingdom Tom Chilton  Citroën 3.732 3.732 12
5 argentina Esteban Guerrieri  Chevrolet 8.487 8.487 10
6 netherlands Nicky Catsburg  Volvo 8.910 8.910 8
7 hungary Norbert Michelisz  Honda 16.496 16.496 6
8 netherlands Tom Coronel  Chevrolet 16.796 16.796 4
9 france Yann Ehrlacher  LADA 19.481 19.481 2
10 france John Filippi  Citroën 22.889 22.889 1
11 japan Ryo Michigami  Honda 23.380 23.380  
12 united_states Kevin Gleason  LADA 24.118 24.118  
13 france Aurelien Panis  Honda 34.158 34.158  
14 hungary Daniel Nagy  Honda 35.457 35.457  
15 argentina Nestor Girolami  Volvo 1 lap 1 lap  
16 portugal Tiago Monteiro  Honda 1 lap 1 lap

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Nurburgring WTCC: Michelisz takes Nordschleife pole by 0.6s
Next article Nurburgring WTCC: Catsburg takes points lead with Race 2 win

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia