M1RA Motorsport’s Luca Engstler took the victory on the road in race two of TCR Europe at the Red Bull Ring after contact with erstwhile leader Luca Filippi on the final lap, with multiple investigations ongoing after a manic rain-affected contest.
Reverse-grid polesitter Tom Coronel had led most of the race but then received a drive-through penalty for working on the car at the five-minute board pre-race, but did not take the penalty and finished third on the road before eventually being classified 18th as it was converted to a 30-second penalty.
That promoted Wolf-Power Racing’s Alex Morgan to his first series podium behind Josh Files who recorded another podium finish after winning the opening race yesterday.
Coronel would cross the line third after surviving two safety car restarts as the race leader, but eventually dropped back in the remaining laps behind the Hyundai duo of Engstler and Filippi, who are now under investigation for the final lap contact.
Engstler appeared to get better traction than Filippi on the exit of the Würch Curve, edging ahead before the pair made contact and Filippi was pitched hard into the barriers.
M Racing’s Nelson Panciatici recovered from a stall on the grid to storm through the field to repeat the fourth position he secured yesterday, capping off a strong weekend for the Frenchman.
Front row starter Gianni Morbidelli had a tough race with many battles but eventually would complete the top five, just two tenths ahead of Mat’o Homola’s Hyundai and Santiago Urrutia’s Audi.
Team WRT’s Maxime Potty finished eighth after battling with Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman who would score his second top ten finish of the weekend in ninth.
Aurélien Comte completed the top ten in his DG Sport Competition Peugeot, ahead of Natan Bihel’s Hyundai and fellow Peugeot runner Julien Briché.
Dušan Borkovic had been running well before contact on the final lap forced him to retire, while Stian Paulsen had stormed through from 19th on the grid to fourth before running wide at Schlossgold and eventually finishing 23rd.
The provisional result means Target Competition’s Josh Files extends his championship lead to 36 points, while Engstler jumps to second ahead of previous leader Julien Briché.
These results remain very much provisional as the contact between Engstler and Filippi is investigated, with the latter already being looked into for abusing track limits.
Also under investigation is Daniel Lloyd for contact with Andreas Bäckman and Olli Kangas, after Lloyd was previously handed a drive-through for overtaking under the first safety car.
Provisional seventh position finisher Urrutia is also under investigation for overtaking under the safety car.
Further updates to follow.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 25:58.809 | 1:42.183 | 4 |
| 2 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1.205 | 1:42.204 | 9 |
| 3 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 2.933 | 1:42.495 | 3 |
| 4 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 3.151 | 1:42.386 | 8 |
| 5 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 4.449 | 1:43.279 | 2 |
| 6 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 4.742 | 1:42.478 | 12 |
| 7 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 4.926 | 1:43.076 | 13 |
| 8 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 5.285 | 1:42.131 | 5 |
| 9 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 5.637 | 1:42.459 | 15 |
| 10 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 6.725 | 1:42.817 | 20 |
| 11 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 11.633 | 1:44.138 | 21 |
| 12 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 11.891 | 1:42.231 | 29 |
| 13 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 12.203 | 1:44.163 | 24 |
| 14 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 13.215 | 1:43.696 | 25 |
| 15 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 14.052 | 1:42.646 | 23 |
| 16 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 15.371 | 1:42.936 | 6 |
| 17 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 17.656 | 1:43.541 | 27 |
| 18 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 31.670 | 1:42.418 | 1 |
| 19 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 37.352 | 1:45.130 | 26 |
| 20 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 38.842 | 1:48.462 | 28 |
| 21 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 1:42.183 | 10 |
| 22 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 1:42.185 | 14 |
| 23 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 1:42.619 | 18 |
| 24 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | + 3 LAPS | 1:43.907 | 22 |
| R | 23 | Tamás TENKE |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:42.882 | 19 |
| R | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:46.532 | 11 |
| R | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 4 | DNF | 2:12.088 | 7 |
| R | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 16 |
| R | 99 | Dániel NAGY | |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 17 |
