Race report

WTCR Nürburgring

Nurburgring WTCR: Muller claims first comeback win

Yvan Muller claimed his first victory for his eponymous Yvan Muller Racing outfit in the World Touring Car Cup in the opening Nurburgring Nordschleife race from teammate Thed Bjork.

Jack Cozens

Edited: May 10, 2018, 7:18 PM

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Yvan Muller, YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR

Four-time WTCC champion Muller grabbed the lead at the start, and headed the way over the three-lap race distance on the 15.77-mile (25.38km) circuit despite heavy pressure from a trio of cars behind.

The win was Muller's first since returning full-time from retirement to contest the WTCR, having secured his previous win with the Citroen WTCC outfit at Motegi in 2016.

Having started second, Muller beat polesitter Bjork off the line into the first corner and kept his nose ahead on the left-handed cutback for Turn 2 to hold the lead onto the Nurburgring Grand Prix loop.

The Frenchman led an early YMR Hyundai breakaway as the field headed onto the Nordschleife for the first time, as Rob Huff squeezed his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen into third ahead of Norbert Michelisz (BRC Racing Hyundai).

But Huff quickly closed up on the leading two, dragging Michelisz with him, as the quartet circulated within two seconds of each other over the remaining two and a half laps.

Bjork got close enough on two occasions on the final two laps to move out of Muller's slipstream on the long Dottinger Hohe back straight, but could not get past his teammate as Muller held on to win.

Huff ensured there was no Hyundai lockout of the top three positions, rebuffing two attempts from Michelisz to get back past into the Tiergarten complex to claim the final podium position.

Jean-Karl Vernay steered clear of incidents at the first corner to pick his way through to fifth from ninth on the grid in his WRT Audi, resisting the sister wildcard entry of Rene Rast on the final lap.

Gordon Shedden took seventh in the third WRT car, advancing from 17th on the grid after a 10-place penalty for not slowing significantly under yellow flags in qualifying - for which Rast received a similar penalty.

Overtakes on the pair of Boutsen Ginion Hondas netted Pepe Oriola eighth in his Campos Racing Cupra on the final lap, with Tom Coronel the leading Honda representative in ninth ahead of teammate Benjamin Lessennes.

Points leader Gabriele Tarquini's race ended disastrously at the end of the first lap, when he hit a barrier at the Hohenrain-Schikane in his BRC Hyundai just before the run to the start/finish line while challenging Vernay for fifth.

Tarquini had earlier triggered one of the incidents at the first corner when he tapped fourth-place starter Esteban Guerrieri into a spin after the Honda driver had backed out of a challenge for Huff's fourth place.

Race results:

Pos.Driver Car Time/Gap 1 Yvan Muller Hyundai 27'08.139 2 Thed Bjork Hyundai 0.331 3 Rob Huff Volkswagen 0.853 4 Norbert Michelisz Hyundai 1.288 5 Jean-Karl Vernay Audi 8.112 6 Rene Rast Audi 8.581 7 Gordon Shedden Audi 13.468 8 Pepe Oriola Seat 18.134 9 Tom Coronel Honda 18.573 10 Benjamin Lessennes Honda 18.672 11 Aurelien Panis Audi 19.343 12 Denis Dupont Audi 25.367 13 Mehdi Bennani Volkswagen 25.816 14 Mat'o Homola Peugeot 26.205 15 Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 31.087 16 John Filippi Seat 31.916 17 Kris Richard Honda 32.728 18 Aurelien Comte Peugeot 33.750 19 Yann Ehrlacher Honda 34.286 20 Nathanael Berthon Audi 35.420 21 Norbert Nagy Seat 51.677 22 James Thompson Honda 52.428 Ret Gianni Morbidelli Alfa Romeo - Ret Frederic Vervisch Audi - Ret Esteban Guerrieri Honda - Ret Zsolt Szabo Seat - Ret Gabriele Tarquini Hyundai -

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