Teddy Clairet scored victory in the reverse-grid TCR Europe race at Misano, with the Audi driver taking a lights-to-flag win ahead of Monlau Motorsport’s Eric Gené.
Clairet had a relatively straightforward drive to victory in Italy, salvaging a strong result on a weekend where the Audi RS3 drivers have struggled for pace or even to break into the top ten.
With victory, Clairet has leapfrogged brother Jimmy to take over at the top of the drivers’ championship standings.
Gené brought his CUPRA home in second, the Spaniard having had his best chance at taking the lead after a first safety car period, brought about when Filippo Barberi spun his Audi off into the gravel.
Gené quickly went from the attacker to the defender, having to stave off the challenge from MM Motorsport’s Marco Butti, allowing Clairet into some clear air.
Gené held second to the chequered flag, with Butti completing the podium as the leading Honda.
Felipe Fernández was fourth in his RC2 Racing Team Honda, ahead of Monlau’s Jenson Brickley in fifth, who had been in the thick of battles from the off – on the opening lap the Brit was defending heavily from Nicolas Taylor’s Audi, causing the latter to get sideways on several occasions.
Then Brickley had light contact with the Hyundai of Junesung Park a lap later, both drivers emerging unscathed.
Brickley moved past RC2’ Santiago Concepción five laps from the finish with a bold dive at Turn 13, with Concepción later sliding down a further three places when he made a mistake on lap 13.
MM Motorsport’s Jacopo Cimenes had passed Concepción for sixth on the same lap the latter fell down the order, with Junesung Park in seventh and MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Concepción, who moved up a place on the final lap when race one winner Ruben Volt, in a fierce battle with Junesung Park, went off the road a few corners from the end, and Junui Park in tenth.
PMA Motorsport’s Nicolas Taylor was 11th, ahead of the wildcard Hyundai of Michele Imberti in 12th, although the latter had been handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, which cost him two places in the rankings.
Volt limped across the line in 13th, ahead of a good showing by new ALM Motorsport team-mate Vedat Ali Dalokay in 14th.
Title contenders Nicola Baldan and Jimmy Clairet failed to finish the race – the former following contact with Taylor on lap four, and the latter stopping in the pits after eight laps in what has been a miserable weekend for the erstwhile series leader.
Teddy Clairet now leads the drivers’ standings with 145 points, ahead of Jimmy Clairet (131), Gené (127), Brickley (123) and Butti (117) etc. in a wide open championship.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 20 |  |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 27:14.983 | 1:44.174 | 1 | |
| 2 | 28 |  |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 0.751 | 1:44.223 | 4 | |
| 3 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 1.483 | 1:44.403 | 3 | |
| 4 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 2.200 | 1:44.483 | 2 | |
| 5 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 3.431 | 1:44.349 | 8 | |
| 6 | 82 | |
Jacopo CIMENES | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 6.162 | 1:44.235 | 9 | |
| 7 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 12.193 | 1:44.863 | 5 | |
| 8 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 15 | 13.505 | 1:44.579 | 6 | |
| 9 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 14.903 | 1:44.769 | 7 | |
| 10 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 16.767 | 1:45.078 | 12 | |
| 11 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 17.611 | 1:44.936 | 13 | |
| 12 | 344 | |
Michele IMBERTI | Kombat Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 20.786 | 1:45.091 | 11 | |
| 13 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 21.037 | 1:44.442 | 10 | |
| 14 | 13 |  |
Vedat Ali Dalokay | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 25.015 | 1:45.492 | 20 | |
| 15 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 30.645 | 1:45.037 | 14 | |
| 16 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 31.572 | 1:45.822 | 18 | |
| 17 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 31.979 | 1:45.119 | 19 | |
| R | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | DNF | 1:45.553 | 15 | |
| R | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 3 | DNF | 1:48.750 | 16 | |
| R | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 1 | DNF | N/A | 17 |