Tassi takes his turn in the WTCR spotlight with season-transforming Vila Real podium

Attila Tassi claimed a first podium finish in this season’s WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup as he battled to a hard-earned Vila Real podium in the 100th WTCR race yesterday. The Hungarian’s runner-up finish, which followed a podium earlier in the day for fellow Honda Racing driver Néstor Girolami (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport), also marked the first WTCR podium for LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler as a Honda customer team.

Ad/> Tassi, who equalled his best qualifying result of the season on Saturday and finished ninth in Race 1, launched well off the line from second in Race 2. WTCRRace report: Victory in Vila Real as Huff wins WTCR’s 100th race with perfectly timed Joker Lap8 HOURS AGO A well-executed run through the Joker Lap contributed to Tassi jumping early race leader Yvan Muller and, although he was overcut by Rob Huff, he nevertheless clinched a deserved Vila Real podium three years after he was denied a victory on the challenging Portuguese street circuit.

His team-mate, home hero Tiago Monteiro, finished P11 in Race 1 but crashed out of Race 2 shortly after he touched a wall and suffered a failure that sent him over to the right-hand side of the track, which resulted in unavoidable contact with Esteban Guerrieri’s similar Honda Civic Type R TCR. “I was really excited to come back to Vila Real, so to be on the podium – especially because three years ago I didn’t have the chance to share it with Tiago – was an amazing feeling, and better late than never,” said Tassi.

“It was not the easiest race of my life, as I had a clutch problem before the start of the race, although I got away without too many problems in the end. “I saw after the first Safety Car that the car behind had taken its Joker, so my push lap from