Franco Girolami sealed his title winning TCR Europe season in style with victory in the final race of the year at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya, heading home a Comtoyou Racing 1-2-3.
Girolami started from seventh on the partially reversed grid, but the new champion was up to fourth by the first corner, as he took advantage of slower starts from Target Competition Nicola Baldan and Josh Files.
Pole-sitter John Filippi led for much of the opening lap, before Aggressive Team Italia’s Pepe Oriola tried to make a move at the final turn on the lap.
That ended up opening the door for Girolami, who had got by team-mate Frédéric Vervisch at Turn 3, to sneak into the lead, as Oriola then tried to squeeze Vervisch out along the start – finish straight.
The Spaniard couldn’t keep the Audi at bay though, and Vervisch also moved into second, as Oriola and Filippi followed.
On lap two Filippi’s race came to an early end, as the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver was spun off the circuit by Files at Turn 7 and 8, which in turn prompted a one-lap safety car intervention on lap five to move the stricken CUPRA.
The race only lasted another two laps before Oriola’s Hyundai cruised to a halt at the end of the main straight, which in turn prompted another neutralisation of the race on lap eight for one tour.
When racing resumed on lap nine, Girolami got such a good restart that he was several second clear of Vervisch, who immediately ceded second to Coronel into Turn 1.
Thereafter, the order at the front didn’t change, giving the Audi team a 1-2-3 result and, for Coronel, crucially giving him second overall in the drivers’ standings.
Halder Motorsport’s Mike Halder was fourth, after the Honda driver came through from 12th on the grid with a strong race that saw him make a string of strong overtakes.
His team-mate Jack Young came through from tenth on the grid to take fifth, the Northern Irishman having made one place on the opening lap before gaining further ground with the demise of Filippi and Oriola.
He fought by the Hyundai of Jáchym Galáš, who was going backwards in the race, on lap six, and then passed Klim Gavrilov for fifth four laps from the end.
Isidro Callejas was the leading Volcano Motorsport driver in sixth – the Spaniard gained when Gavrilov and Files made contact at Turn 10 three laps from the end.
Files had dived up the inside of Gavrilov, but the Russian turned in on the Brit and speared his Hyundai off into the gravel.
Both drivers continued, but Gavrilov took the chequered flag down in 12th whilst Files was last on track having had to haul his Elantra out of the gravel.
That meant Marco Butti finished seventh in his Audi, ahead of the best-placed Target Competition car of Nicola Baldan in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Comtoyou Racing’s Viktor Davidovski and the slightly ailed Hyundai of Galáš.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 29:34.726 | 1:55.558 | 7 | |
| 2 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1.332 | 1:56.253 | 9 | |
| 3 | 22 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 5.686 | 1:56.268 | 5 | |
| 4 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 5.975 | 1:56.991 | 12 | |
| 5 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 6.270 | 1:56.378 | 10 | |
| 6 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 13.335 | 1:56.193 | 8 | |
| 7 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 14.956 | 1:57.461 | 16 | |
| 8 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 15.876 | 1:57.696 | 4 | |
| 9 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 17.675 | 1:57.403 | 20 | |
| 10 | 24 |  |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Hyundai Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 18.868 | 1:58.217 | 3 | |
| 11 | 10 | |
Alejandro GEPPERT | Teo Martín Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 19.159 | 1:57.349 | 18 | |
| 12 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 19.521 | 1:57.791 | 13 | |
| 13 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 20.855 | 1:57.939 | 14 | |
| 14 | 37 |  |
Sergio LÓPEZ | Auto Club RC2 Valles | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 21.805 | 1:57.614 | 15 | |
| 15 | 4 |  |
Samuel SLÁDEČKA | Hyundai Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 23.867 | 1:57.633 | 19 | |
| 16 | 12 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 27.225 | 1:57.624 | 17 | |
| 17 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 27.651 | 1:57.188 | 22 | |
| 18 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 30.167 | 1:57.327 | 21 | |
| 19 | 99 | |
Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 54.890 | 1:56.791 | 6 | |
| R | 53 | |
Michelle HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 9 | DNF | 1:58.041 | 11 | |
| R | 74 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | Aggressive Team Italia Asd | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:57.224 | 2 | |
| R | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing – Bardahl Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 1 | DNF | 2:03.590 | 1 |