Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus converted his maiden pole position into a first TCR Europe race victory in the opening contest at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
The Belgian racer led fellow Audi driver Santiago Urrutia at the start, with the only serious threat to his lead coming at the start of lap five when Urrutia out-braked himself at La Source and locked up, briefly taking the lead on the entry.
Magnus reacted well, cutting back to regain the position on the exit of the corner and would not relinquish his lead, winning by over a second-and-a-half at the flag.
Team WRT’s Maxime Potty made it two Belgians on the podium by virtue of his impressive late move on Aurélien Comte around the outside of the entry to Stavelot on the final lap.
Potty, who repeated his podium success from last year in race one at Spa-Francorchamps, had bogged down and dropped to sixth on the opening lap.
Later on lap one, Julien Briché hit the back of Comte’s Peugeot on the entry to Les Combes, putting the former out of contention with a resultant issue.
Then, Lucas Engstler’s M1RA Motorsport Hyundai tagged the back of Olli Kangas’ Volkswagen, spinning the Finn through Les Combes before he collected Teddy Clairet.
Clairte had attempted to take avoiding action but both cars would end up in the gravel, necessitating a safety car on the opening lap.
Comte, who lost out to Potty on the final lap, eventually came home fourth ahead of fellow Peugeot runner Jimmy Clairet.
Davit Kajaia was sixth as the fastest CUPRA entrant, with Mat’o Homola managing to hold off a charging Stian Paulsen by just three tenths at the line.
Homola had appeared to struggle since the restart, and twice made light contact with Paulsen on the entry to Les Combes as the Hyundai seemed to struggle late on.
In ninth position was Luca Engstler, who held off a huge pack of cars at the line, with Tom Coronel’s Bousten Ginion Racing Honda completing the top ten.
Dan Lloyd progressed from 18th on the grid to 11th, just three tenths adrift of Coronel, with Dušan Borkovic behind him in 12th.
The result promotes Magnus 22 points clear in the standings on erstwhile leader Josh Files, whose torrid weekend continued in race one.
After having his fastest time taken away in qualifying, Files then crashed heavily at Raidillon while trying to break into the top 12.
With the damage repaired in a quick turnaround, Files then progressed 11 positions on the opening lap, before slowing once the race restarted and failing to finish the race.
2017 British Touring Car champion Ash Sutton also struggled, an issue with his steering wheel preventing his Volkswagen from starting on the grid.
He would eventually start from the pit lane and came home 19th at the flag.
Unfortunately, JSB Compétition suffered another heavy accident after Julien Briché’s FP2 shunt, with Lilou Wadoux’s Peugeot flipping on the entry to the Curbe Paul Frère.
The second TCR Europe race of the weekend is scheduled to get underway at 12:00 CEST tomorrow [9 June].
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 27:11.166 | 2:30.990 | 1 |
| 2 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1.551 | 2:30.858 | 2 |
| 3 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 6.708 | 2:31.068 | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 6.757 | 2:31.523 | 5 |
| 5 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 7.35 | 2:31.770 | 8 |
| 6 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 11.728 | 2:32.277 | 9 |
| 7 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 14.393 | 2:33.081 | 7 |
| 8 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 14.749 | 2:32.106 | 17 |
| 9 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 16.623 | 2:32.886 | 16 |
| 10 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 16.938 | 2:33.153 | 14 |
| 11 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 17.674 | 2:32.806 | 18 |
| 12 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 18.671 | 2:33.124 | 10 |
| 13 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 19.605 | 2:32.819 | 11 |
| 14 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 20.485 | 2:33.246 | 15 |
| 15 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 20.736 | 2:32.739 | 24 |
| 16 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 23.761 | 2:33.654 | 19 |
| 17 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 26.909 | 2:34.219 | 20 |
| 18 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 27.282 | 2:34.013 | 21 |
| 19 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 29.344 | 2:33.089 | 4 |
| 20 | 14 | Klim GAVRILOV |  |
VRC Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 30.597 | 2:33.465 | 26 |
| 21 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 32.356 | 2:33.680 | 25 |
| 22 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 9 | 32.569 | 2:33.411 | 22 |
| 23 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 32.821 | 2:34.158 | 23 |
| 24 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 41.368 | 2:34.832 | 34 |
| 25 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 42.539 | 2:34.518 | 30 |
| 26 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 45.357 | 2:34.406 | 28 |
| 27 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 1:03.158 | 2:37.640 | 31 |
| R | 44 | Lilou WADOUX | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:34.429 | 32 |
| R | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:33.974 | 27 |
| R | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | DNF | 2:31.603 | 6 |
| R | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 4 | DNF | 2:36.645 | 29 |
| R | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | DNF | 3:02.634 | 33 |
| R | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 |
| R | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 |