Andreas Bäckman led from start to finish in the second TCR Europe race at a hot and dry Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but his two Target Competition teammates collided and fell from second and third at the time as a result.
Bäckman had been leading sister Jessica with the team’s third Hyundai i30 N TCR of John Filippi in third, but on lap seven the Frenchman received a drive-through penalty after crashing into Jessica at turn seven.
The Swede’s car was left stranded on the grass between turns eleven and twelve and she could only recover to eighteenth by the end of the race, while Filippi ended the race 11th after serving his penalty.
Jessica’s brother meanwhile, who missed the last event of the championship at Monza due to a wrist injury, claimed the win in fine fashion by 2.257 seconds ahead of an impressive Sami Taoufik.
The ComtoYou Racing driver, who finished third in yesterday’s opening race, gradually made his way up through the order, firstly getting the better of teammate Mehdi Bennani before then moving ahead of Pepe Oriola at turn one on lap nine.
Bennani then followed his younger rival through in similar fashion a lap later and would end the race third after Filippi dropped down the leaderboard.
Home driver Oriola had a race to forget. After a great start he was at one point in fourth position after starting seventh, but he appeared to slow throughout the second half of the race, eventually coming over the line down in 14th.
Fourth went to BRC Racing’s Daniel Nagy. He was next to benefit from Oriola’s problem although his move on the Spaniard at turn one was questionable in terms of track limits.
Mike Halder, who took fifth, made sure to make the most of the drama ahead of him in Sunday’s second race and the result is enough for him to now lead the championship going to Spa in two weeks’ time.
The German now leads the standings after Dan Lloyd again struggled in the Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda, with Halder finishing ahead of title rival Nicolas Baert who ended the race sixth.
Lloyd was involved in an incident early in the race on the opening lap, where he collided with yesterday’s pole sitter Mat’o Homola and the Slovakian was forced to head for the pitlane as a result after a move up the inside of the Brit at turn five.
Michelle Halder, who had been in a close four way battle earlier in the race involving both her brother and Nagy, finished seventh, with Jose Manuel Sepang, Lloyd and Jimmy Clairet completing the top 10 in race two.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 23:39.531 | 1:56.772 | 1 |
| 2 | 25 | Sami TAOUFIK |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 2.257 | 1:56.660 | 5 |
| 3 | 250 | Mehdi BENNANI | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 6.803 | 1:57.193 | 6 |
| 4 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 12.275 | 1:57.399 | 8 |
| 5 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 12.889 | 1:57.807 | 9 |
| 6 | 8 | Nicolas BAERT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 19.022 | 1:57.336 | 4 |
| 7 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 19.286 | 1:57.888 | 16 |
| 8 | 33 | José Manuel SAPAG |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 21.058 | 1:58.251 | 18 |
| 9 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 25.658 | 1:57.975 | 13 |
| 10 | 21 | Jimmy CLAIRET |  |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 27.108 | 1:58.434 | 17 |
| 11 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 27.192 | 1:56.849 | 3 |
| 12 | 20 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 28.407 | 1:58.032 | 11 |
| 13 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 31.527 | 1:58.809 | 19 |
| 14 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 31.678 | 1:56.972 | 7 |
| 15 | 4 | Florian BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 31.870 | 1:58.819 | 20 |
| 16 | 6 | Jean Laurent NAVARRO | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 35.414 | 1:59.155 | 22 |
| 17 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 37.194 | 1:59.189 | 21 |
| 18 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 46.518 | 1:57.005 | 2 |
| 19 | 16 | Evgenii LEONOV |  |
Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:05.558 | 1:58.299 | 12 |
| 20 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | + 1 LAP | 1:58.603 | 10 |
| 21 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | + 3 LAPS | 1:58.769 | 14 |
| NS | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 15 |
