M1RA’s Attila Tassi followed up his maiden TCR International Series victory in race one with another win in race two at the Hungaroring, finishing ahead of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola to take the championship lead.
Jens Reno Møller started the reverse-grid race from pole position, and it was the Dane who led for the first ten laps of the race, as behind him Tassi fought his way from eighth on the grid to the front.
A two-lap safety car intervention was required after an accident on the exit of the first turn on the first lap, which was triggered when Stian Paulsen tapped Leopard Racing’s Rob Huff into a slide.
That slide saw the second Leopard car of Jean-Karl Vernay pass Huff, but slight contact between the duo pitched Vernay into the rear corner of the Alfa Romeo of Davit Kajaia. That in turn spun the GE-Force driver into WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli and Craft-Bamboo’s Dan Lloyd, who were on the outside line, forcing all three into retirement.
At the restart after the safety car it was Møller leading WestCoast Racing’s Giacomo Altoè and Tassi, and the leading Dane initially built up a two-second advantage in the following laps.
On lap six Tassi got past Altoè for second, and he set about closing the gap to the leader, such that by lap ten he was able to mount an attack.
The young Hungarian got past Møller for the lead at Turn 13 on lap 11, and made it two wins out of two at his home circuit.
Oriola followed past two laps later to claim second, whilst Møller was able to hold on to claim his first TCR podium in third.
Altoè just missed out on a maiden TCR International podium in fourth, although the result marks his best finish of the season. Former points leader Roberto Colciago took fifth, ahead of M1RA team-mate and team boss Norbert Michelisz.
Vernay finished the race in seventh, ahead of Paulsen in eighth, who scored his first points finish of the season after seven non-scores beforehand.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash and Comtoyou Racing’s Stefano Comini completed the top ten, the latter benefitting by a place when team-mate Frédéric Vervisch retired from the race when the front-right wheel of his Audi broke on lap 12.
After losing out on the opening lap, Huff could only manage 11th, meaning he leaves Hungary without adding any points to his tally, whilst Mat’o Homola again powered through from the back of the grid to finish in 12th position.
Dušan Borković’s poor run of form in Budapest continued with the GE-Force driver bringing his Alfa Romeo into the pits with technical issues for the second race in a row.
Tassi’s double victory gives him the lead of the drivers’ championship, six points clear of team-mate Roberto Colciago, who took fifth in the race. Vernay is now 13 points adrift in third.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 14 LAPS | 1:55.390 | 8 |
| 2 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 1.861 | 1:54.330 | 7 |
| 3 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER |  |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 3.283 | 1:55.181 | 1 |
| 4 | 21 | Giacomo ALTOÈ |  |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 3.765 | 1:55.727 | 2 |
| 5 | 5 | Roberto COLCIAGO | |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 4.397 | 1:55.630 | 6 |
| 6 | 59 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 4.980 | 1:54.655 | 10 |
| 7 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 5.372 | 1:54.694 | 9 |
| 8 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 6.254 | 1:55.294 | 4 |
| 9 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 12.055 | 1:55.395 | 12 |
| 10 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 17.135 | 1:55.464 | 16 |
| 11 | 3 | Rob HUFF | |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 17.400 | 1:54.489 | 5 |
| 12 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 14 | 18.505 | 1:55.423 | 24 |
| 13 | 66 | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 14 | 21.975 | 1:56.286 | 18 |
| 14 | 55 | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | KIA Cee’d TCR | 14 | 28.923 | 1:56.923 | 20 |
| 15 | 20 | Márk JEDLÓCZKY | |
Unicorse Team | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 14 | 33.914 | 1:57.461 | 19 |
| 16 | 26 | István BERNULA | |
Botka Rally Team | KIA Cee’d TCR | 14 | 38.193 | 1:56.745 | 26 |
| 17 | 77 | Anett GYÖRGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León TCR DSG | 14 | 59.176 | 1:58.158 | 21 |
| 18 | 78 | Csaba TÓTH | |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León TCR DSG | 14 | 1:14.998 | 2:00.158 | 23 |
| R | 31 | Milovan VESNIĆ |  |
ASK Vesnić | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | DNF | 1:57.287 | 22 |
| R | 6 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:55.256 | 13 |
| R | 18 | Duncan ENDE |  |
Icarus Motorsports | SEAT León TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:56.665 | 25 |
| R | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ | |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:56.480 | 17 |
| R | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 3 |
| R | 17 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 |
| R | 16 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 15 |
| R | 80 | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 14 |