Daniel Lloyd won the second TCR Europe race at Barcelona, as he led the field from lights-to-flag after starting from pole position on the top-ten reversed grid. Gilles Magnus chased him throughout the race, but had to settle for second position, while Julien Briché completed the podium and kept the title fight alive, as he reduced to 48 points the gap in the standings to Josh Files, who was classified fifth.
Just as in yesterday’s race, 17-year old rookie Jack Young drove the Vuković Motorsport Renault Mégane to finish in fourth position.
As far as the title fight is concerned, with 85 points still on offer, Briché still has a chance to prevent Files from being crowned champion. In fact, the only other driver who is still in contention, Andreas Bäckman, is now 83 points behind Files…
TCR Europe will next visit Monza to finish the season on October 11th/13th.
Key facts
Grid – J. Filippi is missing as the team is working on his car in the pit lane to replace a broken driveshaft
Formation lap – Al-Khelaifi loses control and crashes into the pit wall
Start – Lloyd takes the lead from pole ahead of Magnus and Young; Mora stalls and drops to the back of the field; J. Filippi starts from the pit lane
Lap 1 – Coronel passes Urrutia for P4; Engstler and Files pass T. Clairet for P7 and P8; Colombani and Moura collide and stop on the track
Lap 2 – The safety car is deployed; J. Filippi returns to the pits
Lap 5 – Racing resumes, L. Filippi is given a drive-through for overtaking during the safety car period
Lap 6 – Urrutia tries to overtake Coronel for P4, but outbrakes himself and goes wide; Briché takes advantage of the situation and passes Coronel for P4, while Urrutia makes another mistake and drops to 11th
Lap 7 – Briché overtakes Young for P3; Files overtakes Engstler for P6; Panciatici overtakes Urrutia for 11th; there are collisions in the middle of the field: between Homola and Szabó, and then between Baus-Coppens, Davidovski and Ryba
Lap 8 – Davidovski pits and retires
Lap 9 – Files overtakes Coronel for P5
Lap 10 – Engstler tries to pass Coronel into the chicane, they make contact and Engstler drops back to 11th; A. Bäckman makes a mistake and Panciatici passes him for P9
Lap 11 – In the fight for P12, Morgan, Comte, Morbidelli, Homola and Potty all pass Urrutia; Szabó and J. Bäckman retire into the pits
Lap 12 – Lloyd wins from Magnus, Briché, Young and Files; Baumann passes A. Bäckman for P9
Race 2
1. Daniel Lloyd (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic FK7), 12 laps
2. Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.535
3. Julien Briché (JSB Compétition, Peugeot 308), 1.678
4. Jack Young (Vuković Motorsport, Renault Mégane RS), 3.391
5. Josh Files (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 3.808
Championship points
1. Files 282 pts; 2. Briché 234; 3. A. Bäckman 199