ALTAS ROTAÇÕES - Urrutia secures TCR shock victory at Valencia

Saturday, 13 June 2026 21:48

Urrutia secures TCR shock victory at Valencia

Written by Super User

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Urrutia secures TCR shock victory at Valencia

Kumho FIA TCR World Tour - Valencia Race 1

Santiago Urrutia has taken his first victory in three years and moved into the lead of the standings after winning the first race of the weekend at Valencia, while front-runners Yann Ehrlacher and Mikel Azcona both ran into troubles.

Ehrlacher started from pole but was challenged by teammate Thed Björk into the first turn and ran wide, just missing the tyre stack. As he rejoined, Mikel Azcona moved into the lead, passing Urrutia down the inside at T1 before moving ahead of Ehrlacher into T2. The Spanish driver then led the way ahead of Ehrlacher, who was now back ahead of Urrutia, with Björk shuffled down to fourth after the first-corner drama.

Aurélien Comte had passed a slow-starting Norbert Michelisz for fifth, while Viktor Andersson had made a great start to go down the right-hand side of the track, passing Jimmy Clairet to move up to eighth behind Ma Qing Hua.

The race then settled down as Azcona built a small gap to the chasing trio of Geely cars. Ma, however, retired on lap 11, and that it was not the last drama for the team, as Ehrlacher’s car grinded to a halt five laps later, promoting Urrutia and Björk to second and third.

It was then Azcona’s turn to suffer misfortune, pulling into the pit lane at the end of lap 20 with a front-right puncture and allowing Urrutia to the lead. Urrutia and Björk made it to the finish, while Comte was third, taking his first podium result of the year. Behind him came Michelisz, just ahead of Andersson who was the winner in TCR Spain, as well as the recipient of the ETS Guest Star Trophy.

Ehrlacher had secured the fastest lap, which will promote him from tenth to ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s second race.

Urrutia’s victory moved the Uruguayan into a slender one-point lead over Björk, while Azcona dropped to third, nine points adrift.

Quotes from the podium finishers

Santiago Urrutia, 1st: “I’m very happy for my team, and also for myself. It’s been a long time since my last win. Sometimes in racing you need to be lucky, but also you need to be there. I’m happy for my mechanics and my engineers, it was a good day in the office to me. We just need to keep going, as it’s only the third race of the championship.”

Thed Björk, 2nd: “It was not an easy race. I slid on the inside into Turn 1, and touched Yann a little bit, and so it was not the start I expected. Then there was a big fight throughout the race. We were concerned when Ma and Yann stopped, as this was the first time we’ve run this car in such a hot temperature. I’m happy and lucky to be second after what happened, and there’s still two more races this weekend.”

Aurélien Comte, 3rd: “It was not easy, as the track was very hot. Luckily for me I could manage to save the front tyres, and it was a lucky day for me. I don’t know happened to Yann and Mikel, so I’m sorry for them, but it was good for the team and for me. Our pace was good, so I’m happy. It’s not easy to overtake here, especially with the high temperatures, so the key is to make a good start and that’s the race here.”

Andersson wins the ETS Guest Star Trophy

With an impressive fifth place overall in today's race, Viktor Andersson was the winner of the ETS Guest Star Trophy and also of TCR Spain's Race 1.

“I’m super-happy, with P1 in TCR Spain and my second win of the season. And the P5 in the TCR World Tour is my best result there. An top of this, we are in Spain, at the home of CUPRA, so I’m really happy to bring home a good result for them and for Monlau. Tomorrow we are in the same starting position, so we’ll try and do the same again.

We saw some cars didn't make it to the finish, while we did. We had good pace, the car was good; the start and opening lap were the key. We moved up a few spots already and then fought for many laps.”