Davit Kajaia took a thrilling victory in the first TCR International Series race of the day in Georgia, despite a late-race charge from Ferenc Ficza and defending champion Stefano Comini, who completed the podium.
In wet and rainy conditions, Kajaia took command from the very first corner as the Hungarian duo behind him scrapped for second.
In the end the M1RA Honda of Tassi proved to be the bottleneck that Kajaia needed, allowing the Alfa Romeo racer to open up a lead of over two seconds at one stage.
When Tassi made a mistake the sixth lap, it allowed Ficza past and he immediately set about reducing Kajaia’s lead. By lap 12 the SEAT was right on the rear bumper of the Alfa, and a lap later the Audi of Comini, who had on lap seven passed Tassi for third, was right in the mix.
Ultimately Kajaia held on to earn his and Alfa Romeo’s first-ever win in TCR, ahead of Ficza and Comini.
The experienced Cociago finished in fourth, having passed his team-mate into Turn 1 on lap nine, leaving the second M1RA Honda of Tassi to finish in fifth.
Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay took sixth, with the Frenchman having been tagged on the opening lap in Turn 2 by former team-mate Comini. The Volkswagen driver failed to make much of an impression thereafter, having lost position early on.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola took seventh in a difficult race for the Anglo-Hong Kong team, which saw them continue to struggle for pace. James Nash finished outside the points in 13th, whilst Hugo Valente retired to the pits after six laps having earlier slid wide in the tricky conditions.
Giacomo Altoè was the leading West Coast Racing driver in eighth, ahead of the second GE-Force Alfa of Dušan Borković in ninth and the second West Coast Volkswagen of Gianni Morbidelli in tenth.
Both Opel Astras of Mat’o Homola and Pierre-Yves Corthals finished outside of the points, with the DG Sport Compétition duo taking the chequered flag in 11th and 12th respectively, having failed to feature inside the top ten at all during the race.
Duncan Ende was 14th in his TCR début, having driven a solitary race near the back of the field.
Race two takes place at 15:35 local time (12:35 BST / 13:35 CEST).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 16 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 15 | 25:56.717 | 49.626 | 1 |
| 2 | 55 | Ferenc FICZA |  |
Zele Racing | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 58:33.600 | 49.998 | 3 |
| 3 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 15 | 13:26.400 | 50.008 | 6 |
| 4 | 5 | Roberto COLCIAGO |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 15 | 28:19.200 | 50.655 | 5 |
| 5 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 15 | 47:31.200 | 50.227 | 2 |
| 6 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 15 | 0:28.800 | 50.564 | 4 |
| 7 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 31:12.000 | 50.563 | 9 |
| 8 | 21 | Giacomo ALTOÈ | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 15 | 11:02.400 | 50.525 | 10 |
| 9 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 15 | 12:28.800 | 50.409 | 13 |
| 10 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 15 | 18:43.200 | 51.022 | 7 |
| 11 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 15 | 51:21.600 | 50.709 | 12 |
| 12 | 23 | Pierre-Yves CORTHALS |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 15 | 40:19.200 | 51.250 | 14 |
| 13 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 52:48.000 | 51.053 | 11 |
| 14 | 18 | Duncan ENDE |  |
Icarus Motorsports | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 45:07.200 | 52.718 | 15 |
| 15 | 15 | Shota ABKHAZAVA | |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 15 | 1:07.582 | 53.109 | 16 |
| R | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 6 | DNF | 50.708 | 8 |