Brutal Fish Racing’s Dan Lloyd was victorious in the opening TCR Europe race of 2020 at Circuit Paul Ricard, with the Honda driver jumping from third in the grid into the lead at the start of the race.
Lloyd had the best reactions when the lights went out, pulling alongside pole-sitter John Filippi’s Hyundai on the first straight and leading into the first corner.
Whilst Filippi cut the inside of Turn 2 to avoid contact, Comtoyou Racing’s Mehdi Bennani was able to slip past in his Audi as well, leaving Frenchman Filippi in third.
Bennani then put heavy pressure on Lloyd for the rest of the race, but the Moroccan didn’t find space to mount a serious attempt to pass, with Lloyd claiming a lights-to-flag victory.
Bennani claimed a podium in his first TCR Europe race, whilst Target Competition’s Filippi held on to claim third – not only his first podium but also his first top ten finish in the series.
Frenchman Teddy Clairet got past PSS Racing’s Néstor Girolami at the chicane halfway down the Mistral Straight on the opening lap to take fourth, with the Peugeot driver thereafter able to keep the Honda driver at bay.
Girolami, on his TCR Europe début as a standing in for Viktor Davidovski, claimed fifth, ahead of the second Team Ciaret Sport Peugeot of Jimmy Clairet in sixth.
Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman was seventh, having dropped down to 12th on the opening lap. The Swede fought back over the course of the race, and on lap five was, together with his sister, trying to pass Brutal Fish Racing’s Pepe Oriola for the position.
Andreas got past on lap seven at Turn 11, and as Jessica tried to follow through at the final corner on the lap, Oriola made contact with the left-rear wheel of her Hyundai.
The damage was race-ending for both drivers, with Oriola limping to the pits to retire whilst Bäckman stopped on track.
That promoted Sami Taoufik, who had been lining up a pass on Bäckman anyway, to eighth in the second of the Comtoyou Racing Audis, ahead of BRC Racing’s Mat’o Homola in ninth and Profi Car Team Halder’s Mike Halder in tenth.
Halder himself had been running in ninth earlier on, but the German suffered two huge slides at Turns 10 and 11 on lap four, dropping him to 12th before he recovered.
BRC Racing’s Dániel Nagy made limited progress in the race and brought his Hyundai home in 11th, ahead of the second Halder Honda of Michelle Halder in 12th.
Of note, 2019 runner-up Julian Briché could only manage 14th in his Peugeot, behind his son Florian Briché in 13th, who is making his TCR début.
As well as Oriola and Jessica Bäckman, Nicolas Baert retired from the race on lap seven after stopping with a technical issue, the same lap that Tom Coronel retired to the pits in his Honda.
Brutal Fish Racing’s Martin Ryba retired on the opening lap with broken front-left steering.
Race two is scheduled to take place at 12:15 CEST (11:15 BST).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 22:36.607 | 2:14.832 | 3 |
| 2 | 250 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 0.406 | 2:14.846 | 2 |
| 3 | 27 | John FILIPPI |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1.607 | 2:14.776 | 1 |
| 4 | 20 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 2.850 | 2:14.909 | 5 |
| 5 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 4.973 | 2:15.214 | 4 |
| 6 | 21 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 9.957 | 2:15.497 | 8 |
| 7 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 16.292 | 2:15.080 | 7 |
| 8 | 25 | Sami TAOUFIK | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 20.334 | 2:15.435 | 9 |
| 9 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 22.100 | 2:15.908 | 17 |
| 10 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 22.495 | 2:15.215 | 10 |
| 11 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 23.128 | 2:15.904 | 12 |
| 12 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 24.476 | 2:15.967 | 16 |
| 13 | 4 | Florian BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 26.502 | 2:16.048 | 18 |
| 14 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 30.109 | 2:14.873 | 11 |
| 15 | 16 | Evgenii LEONOV |  |
Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 33.425 | 2:16.571 | 21 |
| 16 | 6 | Jean Laurent NAVARRO | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 34.945 | 2:16.780 | 24 |
| 17 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 35.417 | 2:16.508 | 19 |
| 18 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:16.523 | 23 |
| R | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:16.461 | 20 |
| R | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:15.428 | 13 |
| R | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:15.297 | 6 |
| R | 8 | Nicolas BAERT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:15.228 | 15 |
| R | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:16.073 | 14 |
| R | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 22 |