Zandvoort WTCR: Guerrieri wins, Kristoffersson on podium

Thed Bjork's victory in Saturday's first race elevated the Cyan Racing driver to third in the drivers' standings and, given Bjork will start the final race second, Guerrieri was likely to need to finish on the podium if he is to maintain his points lead come the end of the weekend.

Guerrieri launched his Honda well from pole, and moved to the middle of the track on the approach to the first corner to prevent an attack from Benjamin Leuchter's Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen.

Leuchter applied pressure after the intervention of an early safety car and appeared to have more speed that Guerrieri in the final sector, but the superior grunt of the Honda on the main straight meant Guerrieri was safe from attack into Tarzan.

The Argentinian's victory was his first since the season-opening race in Marrakech, and preserved the Munnich team's record of winning at least one race at each round so far in 2019.

Leuchter was just 0.263 seconds shy across the line, and headed an SLR two-three as double World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson scored his first podium since switching to WTCR for 2019.

Dutch driver Nicky Catsburg was fourth in his BRC Racing Hyundai, ahead of Mikel Azcona. The Cupra rookie had been passed at the first corner by Yvan Muller, but regained the place when Muller ran wide through the final corners.

Muller, who had originally qualified on pole for the final race but was stripped of his Q3 time for an overboost issue on his shootout lap, dipped his Lynk & Co's left-front wheel beyond the run-off exiting the penultimate corner and skated through the gravel at Arie Luyendijk before rejoining the track.

He ultimately finished ninth, with Augusto Farfus and Norbert Michelisz (both in BRC Hyundais) plus Muller's nephew Yann Ehrlacher all profiting from that error.

Guerrieri had pipped teammate Nestor Girolami to 10th - and the reversed-grid pole - in the second part of Sunday qualifying, which consigned his compatriot to 11th on the grid for both Sunday races.

While overtaking opportunities were at a premium, Girolami was able to overtake Bjork's Lynk & Co to claim 10th.

Rob Huff (SLR VW) also made it past Bjork, who finished 12th, ahead of reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini, the Comtoyou Cupra of Aurelien Panis and lead Audi representative Jean-Karl Vernay.

Results:

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Gap
1	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda
2	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	0.263
3	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	0.711
4	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	1.659
5	Mikel Azcona	CUPRA	2.035
6	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	2.433
7	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	5.379
8	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	6.128
9	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	7.428
10	Nestor Girolami	Honda	7.781
11	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	8.094
12	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	8.656
13	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	9.247
14	Aurelien Panis	CUPRA	9.884
15	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	11.118
16	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	11.464
17	Niels Langeveld	Audi	12.626
18	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	13.267
19	Daniel Haglof	CUPRA	13.734
20	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	14.327
21	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	14.631
22	Gordon Shedden	Audi	17.185
23	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	17.534
24	Tom Coronel	CUPRA	17.978
25	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	18.526
	Attila Tassi	Honda
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