Mikel Azcona made history at the Hungaroring by becoming PURE ETCR’s first two-time King of the Weekend with a dominant drive in DHL SuperFinal B for CUPRA X Zengo Motorsport.
The Spaniard lost the lead only briefly during the opening couple of corners as Luca Filippi – incredibly up from the back of the grid – took full advantage of the gaps he opened up for his Romeo Ferraris-M1RA Giulia ETCR.
But with most of the field deploying Power-Up as they entered the start/finish straight for the first time, it was Azcona and Hyundai Motorsport N’s Jean-Karl Vernay who charged into the prime positions at the Italian’s expense.
Azcona was largely unchallenged afterwards as he stormed to victory and a maximum 77-point haul that knocked DHL SuperFinal A winner Philipp Eng off the top spot.
Vernay’s second-place finish – good for fourth overall – was a tremendous thank you to his team, who had repaired the car that was not able to compete in SuperFinal A in Augusto Farfus’s hands.
Daniel Nagy finished third in his CUPRA, but was involved in an incident with Filippi when mid-race contact between the two resulted in the Italian being spun into the barrier before Turn 1. The impact, although light, was enough to cause a part of his bodywork to cut his left-rear tyre, which then gave way a lap later, forcing him into retirement. The incident will be investigated post-race.
Filippi’s team-mate Rodrigo Baptista and Hyundai’s Tom Chilton completed the order.
The results mean that five drivers; Mattias Ekström, Vernay, Azcona, Jordi Gené and Baptista head to the season finale in France in October with a chance of becoming the first PURE ETCR title winner.