TCR World and life

6 WTCR There were high expectations in China for the first appearance of the Lynk&Co 03 TCR cars on home soil. And Yvan Muller didn’t disappoint the Chinese fans and the bigwigs of the Geely Group. The Frenchman was the big winner of the WTCR weekend at Ningbo. He set two pole positions, won Race 1 and Race 3, finished third in Race 2 and bagged 76 points – the highest score over a single event so far in the season. Muller advanced to third in the standings, only 17 points behind the new leader Norbert Michelisz who won the second race. Esteban Guerrieri who had topped the classification since Zandvoort, endured a nightmare weekend and dropped to second, only one point ahead of Muller. RACE 1 – MULLER BEATS MA QING HUA BY TWO TENTHS Muller took advantage of pole position and led the field from the start. He was followed by Ma Qing Hua who shadowed him throughout the race and didn’t miss any opportunity to try an overtaking manoeuvre. But the Alsatian didn’t make even the slightest of mistakes and was able to close all the gaps. During the final laps the pair were joined by Mikel Azcona. The three of them ran together until the finishing line, where Muller’s winning margin was reduced to just 0.263 seconds over Ma. Michelisz was classified fourth, while Guerrieri’s bad weekend began with him starting from the pit lane after accidentally activating the fire extinguisher on the grid. RACE 2 – MICHELISZ WINS AFTER COLLIDING WITH PRIAULX At the start, Andy Priaulx sprinted from pole ahead of Michelisz and Thed Björk. During the first lap a series of collisions prompted the safety car into action; among the ‘victims’ were Ma, Guerrieri and Frédéric Vervisch. When racing resumed, Priaulx was chased by Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini who had passed Björk before the neutralization. The fight for the lead became a real battle: Michelisz attacked Priaulx, Tarquini seized the opportunity to pass