Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Nicki Thiim continued his dominance of the TCR International Series in Portimão, taking victory in race one ahead of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Jordi Gené and Engstler Motorsport team-mate Lorenzo Veglia.
Thiim took the win by a comfortable 4.074 seconds ahead of Gené, whilst championship contenders Pepe Oriola and Gianni Morbidelli retired from the race.
Veglia, at the wheel of one of Engstler Motorsport’s SEAT León cars, followed up his best qualifying by scoring his first-ever podium in the series in third, ahead of team-mate Kelvin Van der Linde, who took fourth late in the race with a pass on Stefano Comini.
Target Competition’s Comini held on to finish in fifth, having earlier been involved in close battles with Van der Linde and Oriola which resulted in contact being made. The latter with Oriola forced the Spaniard to pit for repairs to his car, forcing him out of the race.
Mikhail Grachev made it four Engstler Motorsport cars in the top six with sixth.
Seventh went to WestCoast Racing’s top Honda driver Kevin Gleason, with the American benefitting from a close battle between Oriola, Comini and Morbidelli on lap seven to move up the order.
Series newcomers José Monroy and Francisco Mora both made it in to the points in eighth and tenth respectively, with Campos Racing’s Oscar Nogués separating the pair in ninth.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev finished outside the points in 11th after receiving a drive-through penalty because his team refuelled his car on the starting grid.
Target Competition’s Andrea Belicchi was 12th, with the Italian making contact with Morbidelli on lap eight which led to the Honda driver retiring from the race.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 3 | Nicki THIIM |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 13 | 13 LAPS | 1:54.529 | 1 |
| 2 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 4.074 | 1:55.374 | 2 |
| 3 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 6.541 | 1:55.503 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | Kelvin VAN DER LINDE |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 13 | 12.086 | 1:55.831 | 5 |
| 5 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 14.541 | 1:55.959 | 7 |
| 6 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 17.893 | 1:56.080 | 14 |
| 7 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 20.094 | 1:56.297 | 10 |
| 8 | 18 | José MONROY |  |
Veloso Motorsport | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 20.425 | 1:56.211 | 15 |
| 9 | 19 | Oscar NOGUÉS | |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 13 | 23.044 | 1:56.318 | 13 |
| 10 | 50 | Francisco MORA | |
Veloso Motorsport | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 30.107 | 1:56.059 | 12 |
| 11 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 35.348 | 1:55.473 | 8 |
| 12 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 42.451 | 1:56.092 | 11 |
| 13 | 20 | Igor SKUZ |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 50.142 | 1:57.019 | 16 |
| R | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 8 | — 8 laps — | 1:55.914 | 3 |
| R | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 7 | — 8 laps — | 1:55.914 | 6 |
| R | 17 | Michel NYKJÆR | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 2 | — 2 laps — | 1:55.791 | 9 |