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Hungary WTCR: Huff resists early challenge for Race 2 win

Rob Huff clinched his first victory in the new World Touring Car Cup in the reversed-grid race at the Hungaroring after shaking off a challenge from wildcard Daniel Nagy.

Rob Huff, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

Rob Huff, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

WTCR

Pepe Oriola, Team Oscaro by Campos Racing Cupra TCR
Pepe Oriola, Team Oscaro by Campos Racing Cupra TCR
Yvan Muller, YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR
Thed Björk, YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR
Yann Ehrlacher, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R TCR leads
Gianni Morbidelli, Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR
Mehdi Bennani, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

Huff was only promoted to 10th in the qualifying classification - and, as a result, pole for the race - after the session had finished, but the Briton made the most of his opportunity from the front of the grid and led from start to finish.

Having held the lead after the initial launch phase, Huff moved over to the right-hand side of the circuit to cover off Nagy's line on the approach to the Turn 1 hairpin and had enough room on the exit of the corner to ease to the inside approaching Turn 2.

Nagy's mirrors were filled by the similar Hyundai of Yvan Muller on the opening lap, and the Hungarian had to move over quickly to shut off a couple of attempts from Muller, including through the flowing Turns 8 and 9.

But Nagy quickly shook off the attentions of the four-time WTCC champion and was able to edge closer to Huff, particularly at the end of the lap as he hugged a tighter line through the hairpin onto the back straight than Huff could manage.

Despite that, Huff's lead never came under threat and, having built a buffer of half a second back to Nagy, the Sebastien Loeb Racing driver completed the final laps of the race without issue to clinch Volkswagen's first win in World Touring Cars.

Nagy came home a brilliant second and was comfortably clear of Muller, who completed the podium.

The Frenchman had faced pressure from the Munnich Motorsport Honda of Esteban Guerrieri into the closing stages of the 12-lap race, but any threat of an attack fell away when Guerrieri was caught by the BRC Racing Hyundai of Gabriele Tarquini.

Championship leader Tarquini, who caught the leading group after clear Huff's SLR teammate Mehdi Bennani, switched back inside Guerrieri on the approach to the Turn 2 left-hander with three laps to go and eased his Hyundai out wide through the corner, making contact with the Honda as he completed the overtake.

Tarquini ran out of time to catch Muller and crossed the line in fourth with Guerrieri for close company, while the second BRC Hyundai of race three polesitter Norbert Michelisz came home sixth.

Bennani finished ahead of Benjamin Lessennes, who stayed out of trouble to clinch eighth, while David Zsolt Szabo resisted pressure from the WRT Audi of Jean-Karl Vernay to score the Zengo Motorsport Cupra squad's first points of the season.

Guerrieri's Munnich Motorsport teammates Yann Ehrlacher and James Thompson had chances to score point, but Ehrlacher pitted at the end of lap five after reporting power issues over the radio and Thompson dropped down the order at the start of the following lap.

Race 2 results:

Pos.DriverCarTime/Gap
1 GBR Rob Huff Volkswagen 12 laps
2 HUN Daniel Nagy Hyundai 0.562
3 FRA Yvan Muller Hyundai 2.200
4 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Hyundai 2.659
5 ARG Esteban Guerrieri Honda 3.050
6 HUN Norbert Michelisz Hyundai 4.252
7 MAR Mehdi Bennani Volkswagen 8.529
8 BEL Benjamin Lessennes Honda 13.453
9 HUN Zsolt Szabo Seat 19.460
10 FRA Jean Karl Vernay Audi 19.896
11 HUN Norbert Nagy Seat 22.475
12 SWE Thed Bjork Hyundai 22.855
13 FRA John Filippi Seat 24.007
14 FRA Nathanael Berthon Audi 24.480
15 GBR Gordon Shedden Audi 25.916
16 FRA Aurelien Comte Peugeot 26.732
17 BEL Frederic Vervisch Audi 27.115
18 HUN Attila Tassi Honda 27.832
19 ITA Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 30.037
20 HOL Tom Coronel Honda 31.597
21 FRA Aurelien Panis Audi 33.739
22 BEL Denis Dupont Audi 39.207
23 ITA Gianni Morbidelli Alfa Romeo 44.396
 Ret FRA Yann Ehrlacher Honda 4 laps
 Ret GBR James Thompson Honda 4 laps
 Ret SVK Mat'o Homola Peugeot 5 laps
 Ret ESP Pepe Oriola Seat 7 laps

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