Gianni Morbidelli wins thrilling race at the Red Bull Ring

WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli won a hard-fought first race in the TCR International Series at the Red Bull Ring, beating Target Competition duo Stefano Comini and Andrea Belicchi after several changes for the lead.

Pole man Morbidelli lost the lead to team-mate Kevin Gleason at the start of the race, with Comini then getting past both Hondas further around the same lap to take the lead, with Morbidelli following through into second.

Comini held a slender lead for a handful of laps, with Morbidelli all over the back of the SEAT driver. The Honda driver attempted a pass on lap three with slight contact on Comini, which in turn allowed Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola into second, although Morbidelli was able to retake the position a lap later.

The top four cars were separated by less than a second heading onto lap nine, with Comini then going wide under pressure and allowing Morbidelli to take a short-lived lead. A few corners later at the end of the lap Comini was able to slip past back into the lead, with Belicchi also following through in a thrilling battle for the lead.

The battle reached its conclusion on the penultimate lap, where Comini and Morbidelli, who was back into second, made frequent contact as they battled side-by-side. With his tyres appearing to fade, Comini went wide at the final turn to give Morbidelli a lead he would not lose on the final lap of the race.

Comini and Belicchi completed the podium positions, with Oriola forced to settle for fourth in a race where the Spaniard struggled to challenge for the lead.

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Jordi Gené finished a somewhat distant fifth, ahead of Gleason, who had fallen down the order by lap six and lost out to Gené in the closing laps.

The third Craft-Bamboo car of Sergey Afanasyev finished in seventh, ahead of Russian compatriot Mikhail Grachev in eighth, who gave the brand new Volkswagen Golf TCR car points in its first-ever race.

Lorenzo Veglia finished in ninth in the sole Liqui Moly Team Engstler SEAT León, ahead of new team-mate Pol Rosell in tenth in the second of the team’s new Golf cars.

The race featured two retirements, with Zengő Motorsport rookie Dániel Nagy crashing out exiting the final corner on the opening lap, and Proteam Racing’s Diego Romanini spinning out of the race after six laps.

Morbidelli’s win sees him close the gap in the championship battle for just three points to leader Comini, with Oriola ten points adrift in third.

Race two takes place at 10:30 BST (11:30 CEST).

UPDATE: Gianni Morbidelli was later handed a post-race 30-second penalty for unsporting driving, dropping the Honda driver out of the points to 11^th position.

Original race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	10	Gianni MORBIDELLI		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	14	14 LAPS	1:39.764	1
2	25	Stefano COMINI		Target Competition	SEAT León Racer	14	0.621	1:40.265	4
3	33	Andrea BELICCHI		Target Competition	SEAT León Racer	14	1.186	1:40.724	7
4	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León Racer	14	1.278	1:40.698	6
5	88	Jordi GENÉ		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León Racer	14	5.743	1:41.162	8
6	24	Kevin GLEASON		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	14	6.003	1:41.224	2
7	77	Sergey AFANASYEV		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León Racer	14	7.049	1:40.924	5
8	8	Mikhail GRACHEV		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf TCR	14	7.389	1:41.389	9
9	7	Lorenzo VEGLIA		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	SEAT León Racer	14	9.016	1:41.015	11
10	42	Pol ROSELL		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf TCR	14	9.324	1:41.140	10
11	41	Michela CERRUTI		Target Competition	SEAT León Racer	14	18.306	1:41.809	12
12	20	Igor SKUZ		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	14	54.646	1:42.241	14
13	40	Gabriele MAROTTA		Target Competition	SEAT León Racer	13	1 Lap	1:48.437	13
R	72	Diego ROMANINI		Proteam Racing	Ford Focus RS	6	8 Laps	1:49.992	15
R	43	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	SEAT León Racer	0	14 Laps	N/A	3

Complete race results