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10
May
2015

Race 2 – Nykjær wins after a tough fight

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 polesitter, 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 contact with a lap to go saw him drop 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 starts from pole, but Nykær takes the best start from second
Lap 1 – Nykjær leads from Gleanson; 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
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


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