» WTCR: Muller wins Macau opener

Yvan Muller claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the opening World Touring Car Cup race at Macau. The Lynk & Co driver won by four-tenths of a second from BRC Hyundai’s Norbert Michelisz, who reclaims the lead of the Drivers’ Championship standings.

While it was a controlled showing by Muller to keep his own championship aspirations alive, team tactics within the Cyan Racing camp worked to the benefit of teammate and title contender Thed Björk and at the expense of fellow Lynk & Co runners Andy Priaulx and Yann Ehrlacher.

Priaulx slowed before the final corner on the last lap, sacrificing a maiden WTCR podium to slot in behind Björk and promoting the Swede to fifth on the road. That handed the final spot on the podium to Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo driver Kevin Ceccon, with Race 3 pole-sitter Rob Huff (SLR VW Motorsport) promoted to fourth.

Earlier in the race, Ehrlacher had his own instruction from the Cyan Racing pit wall and dropped in behind Björk to help keep his title aspirations alive. Ehrlacher would later be passed by the Comtoyou Audi of Frédéric Vervisch at Lisboa and eventually finished in eighth.

The assistance from the pit wall was not enough to keep Björk in front of Muller in the Drivers’ Championship standings, amid rumours of a growing rift between the teammates as their championship battle reaches its climax.

Michelisz returns to the top of the standings thanks to a point-less race for Esteban Guerrieri, whom he now leads by 18 points. The Münnich Motorsport Honda driver started from the back of the grid thanks to an engine change penalty and was mired towards the rear of the field in what was essentially a write-off race.

Muller’s victory vaults him to third in the championship standings, 36 points behind Michelisz and, more importantly, 11 clear of Björk.

2019 FIA WTCR Guia Race of Macau – Race 1 Final Classification (8 laps)
	Driver	Team / Entry	Laps	Result	Pts
1.	Yvan Muller	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	8	20:30.047	25
2.	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	8	+ 0.405	20
3.	Kevin Ceccon	Team Mulsanne	8	+ 1.644	16
4.	Rob Huff	SLR VW Motorsport	8	+ 2.153	13
5.	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	8	+ 2.882	11
6.	Andy Priaulx	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	8	+ 3.169	10
7.	Frédéric Vervisch	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	8	+ 3.397	9
8.	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	8	+ 4.704	8
9.	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	8	+ 4.918	7
10.	Nicky Catsburg	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	8	+ 5.921	6
11.	Johan Kristoffersson	SLR Volkswagen	8	+ 6.576	5
12.	Aurélien Panis	Comtoyou Team DHL Cupra Racing	8	+ 8.174	4
13.	Robert Dahlgren	PWR Racing	8	+ 10.155	3
14.	Néstor Girolami	Münnich Motorsport	8	+ 12.134	2
15.	Tiago Monteiro	KCMG	8	+ 12.946	1
16.	Luca Engstler	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	8	+ 13.543
17.	Mehdi Bennani	SLR VW Motorsport	8	13.967
18.	Attila Tassi	KCMG	8	+ 20.708
19.	Mikel Azcona	PWR Racing	8	+ 27.199
20.	Tom Coronel	Comtoyou Team DHL Cupra Racing	8	+ 28.746
21.	Jean-Karl Vernay	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	8	+ 34.821
22.	Benjamin Leuchter	SLR Volkswagen	8	+ 40.324
23.	Billy Lo Kai Fung	Tian Shi Zuver Team	8	+ 45.767
24.	Esteban Guerrieri	Münnich Motorsport	7	+ 1 lap
	Not Classified	Team / Entry	Laps	Reason
DNF.	Niels Langeveld	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	5	Collision
DNF.	Ma Qing Hua	Team Mulsanne	5	Collision
DNS.	Gordon Shedden	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport		Withdrawn
DNS.	Jim Ka To (WC)	KC Motorgroup		Withdrawn

Championship Points:

The top fifteen classified finishers (excluding wildcard entries) and their respective teams are awarded championship points on a 25-20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 sliding scale.

Post-Race Penalties: