Nicki Thiim and Michel Nykær caused the Danish flag to be run up twice on the podium during the fourth race meeting of the TCR International Series in Portugal.
Thiim was a dominant force in his first appearance at the wheel of the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Audi TT, topping the practice sessions and qualifying before taking a brilliant lights-to-flag victory in Race 1. The first for Audi in TCR. The decision taken by the German team to invite two of Audi Sport Customer Racing’s young lions really paid off, as Thiim and Kelvin Van der Linde were able to help significantly in developing the TT.
They seemed likley to deliver a second victory in Race 2, as they were chasing Nykær; however, Thiim made a mistake and Van der Linde’s progress was stopped by electronics issues.
This left Nykær flying towards his first win of the season, which was a well deserved one because he had been able to fend off all attacks from Van der Linde until the South African pulled off the track. Thiim’s and Nykær’s successes made it seven different winners out of eight races.
The two races produced many brilliant performances like those of Jordi Gené and Kevin Gleason, who finished on the podium as did Lorenzo Veglia (third in Race 1), who made his first appearance among the top-three after a brilliant qualifying. There are more who deserve to be mentioned. Mikhail Grachev scored in both races, despite only receiving his car just before yesterday’s qualifying and starting from the back of the grid in Race 2, José Monroy managed to put up fights with the series’ regulars on his first TCR appearance, and Oscar Nogués pocketed the first points with the Campos Racing Opel Astra (ninth and seventh).
Looking at the championship fight, Stefano Comini and Pepe Oriola escaped virtually unscathed from a difficult weekend for the leaders. The Swiss remains on top of the classification with a margin of 12 points ahead of the Spaniard. Gianni Morbidelli and Andrea Belicchi had a black day; the former did not score and the latter collected only one point. With one second and one third, Jordi Gené was then able to climb to fourth in the standings.
The TCR International Series will resume for Rounds 9 and 10 at Monza on June 24.
Race 1 – Thiim claims first TCR victory for Audi
At his first visit to the TCR Nicki Thiim, the Audi Sport Customer racing driver, took the win in the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Audi TT on a warm afternoon in the Algarve. The Dane led from pole to chequered flag and was four seconds ahead of Jordi Gené at the line in the Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil SEAT León, with his team-mate Lorenzo Veglia third (this was the first podium result for the young Italian).
Oscar Nogués scored the first points for Campos Racing with the Opel Astra OPC. The highest placed local driver was José Monroy, who finished eighth in his Veloso Motorsport SEAT León, while his team-mate Francisco Mora took the final point for tenth.
It was a positive result for championship leader, Stefano Comini in the Target Competition SEAT in fifth, as the three drivers behind him in the points failed to score. One of them was Gianni Morbidelli who was involved in a lot of the action in his West Coast Racing Honda Civic and retired on lap eight after contact with Andrea Belicchi.
The race was action packed for the whole 13 laps with many exciting overtaking moves and quite a lot of contact.
Key moments
Grid – Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil refueled Sergey Afanasyev’s car on the grid and the Russian was given a drive-through
Start – Thiim and Gené take a good start, with the Audi driver keeping the lead
Lap 1 – Nykær retires and Afanasyev observes the drive-through; Thiim leads from Gené
Lap 2 – There is contact between Morbidelli and Oriola; Mora overtakes Morbidelli for seventh; Van der Linde chases Comini for fourth
Lap 3 – There is contact between Comini and Van der Linde; Oriola chases them
Lap 4 – Van der Linde and Comini swap positions five and six; Oriola and Morbidelli overtake Van der Linde
Lap 5 – Comini and Oriola fight for fourth, they are chased by Morbidelli and Van der Linde
Lap 6 – Grachev overtakes Mora for eighth
Lap 7 – Oriola and Comini make contact; Oriola has bodywork damage; Morbidelli loses several positions while avoiding the incident; Van der Linde overtakes Oriola for fifth; Gleason overtakes Morbidelli for eighth
Lap 8 – There is contact between Belicchi and Morbidelli; Morbidelli and Oriola pit for repairs
Lap 9 – Nogués moves up to ninth and Monroy to eighth as Belicchi slows down
Lap 10 – Van der Linde passes Comini for fourth
Lap 13 – Thiim takes win from Gené, with Veglia third
RESULTS
Race 2 – Nykjær resists pressure and scores maiden win
From second on the reversed grid it was the Target Competition SEAT León of Michel Nykjær that crossed the finishing line of Race 2 in the Algarve first.
The Dane made a better start than pole sitter, Kevin Gleason in the West Coast Racing Honda Civic and stayed out front for all 13 laps. However, he came under huge pressure at around half distance and on lap nine had both Liqui Moly Team Engstler Audi TT cars of Kelvin Van der Linde and Nicki Thiim breathing down his neck. He coped well with the pressure, which then evaporated on laps 10 and 11 when both Thiim and Van der Linde retired respectively.
Despite starting from the back of the grid after Liqui Moly Team Engstler team took his SEAT León out of parc fermé to work on it, Mikhail Grachev finished a brilliant sixth. Championship leader Stefano Comini was looking set to increase his points standings, but then a contact with a lap to go saw him dropping down the field into 11th. José Monroy again took local honours and finished fifth in his Veloso Motorsport SEAT León.
Key moments
Grid – Mikhail Grachev starts from the back of the grid as the team asked for neutralization of parc fermé
Start – Gleason is on pole, but Nykær takes the best start from second
Lap 1 – Nykjær leads from Gleason; Morbidelli moves up to sixth; Afanasyev pits and retire
Lap 2 –Thiim lies ninth; Veglia hits Morbidelli; they both pit and retire
Lap 3 – Van der Linde overtakes Comini for third
Lap 4 – Thiim overtakes Oriola for fifth; Van der Linde overtakes Gleason for second; Oriola overtakes Thiim to take back fifth
Lap 5 – Belicchi chases Thiim
Lap 6 – Thiim overtakes Oriola for fifth; Van der Linde chases Nykjær
Lap 7 – Van der Linde reduces gap to Nykjær; Thiim overtakes Comini for fourth
Lap 8 – Nykjær defends the lead from Van der Linde; Thiim overtakes Gleason for third
Lap 9 – Thiim closes the gap on battling Nykjær and Van der Linde
Lap 10 – Nykjær, Van der Linde and Thiim are very close; Thiim hits a kerb and retire with a broken wheel; Gleason is back to third
Lap 11 – Van der Linde stops out on track with an electronics problem
Lap 12 – Oriola fights for third with Comini, they make contact; Belicchi moves up to third and Gené up to fourth because of the incident; Oriola is now fifth and Monroy sixth
Lap 13 – Nykær wins from Gleason and Gené
RESULTS
What the race winners had to say
Nicki Thiim, winner of Race 1: “It is just fantastic to come here and bring the confidence back into the team. For the whole weekend we have been the fastest and I am really happy to have done my job as well as I could. I had a lot of fun and it’s the most important thing. I think we have got a really good car for the next races. You can always do small things to improve it. Some things you can do off the track and I explained what my feelings are about what they can still adjust on the car. I think they will go home now and find some more things. I just want to say I had a lot of fun, especially in the second race that is touring cars as you like it. It was my mistake in race two – a silly one – but this is racing.”
Michel Nykjær, winner of Race 2: “In the first race I hit Belicchi and the radiator was broken. All the mechanics gave everything for me to make the car ready for race two. I made a very good start, was first in the corner and had Gleason behind to chase me. After that it was Van der Linde and Thiim and that was a hard race for me, because they were quite fast on the straight but I could manage to close the door. I am just very happy for the victory for the team as they were able to make the car ready for the second race. It is a dream. I had some problem with the brakes as I started to brake earlier each time to stop the car; brakes, tyres, the driver – everything got a little bit hot. But I was able to manage to the end of the race.”