Thed Björk led Cyan Racing team-mate Ma Qing Hua home in the second FIA TCR World Tour race on the streets of Vila Real, even though Ma had controlled the first half of the race.
Reverse grid pole-sitter Ignacio Montenegro made a poor start when the lights went out, finding his GOAT Racing Honda swamped by the Lynk & Cos of Ma and Björk, who assumed first and second respectively.
Ma then led the first eight laps of the race with ease, before allowing his Swedish team-mate past on the ninth lap of the Portuguese circuit, with Björk being significantly better-placed in the drivers’ standings to fight for the title and Ma also not being eligible for scoring points in the Teams’ standings this weekend.
Nothing further changed in the top positions after that, with Björk thus claiming victory by half a second from his Chinese team-mate, whilst Montenegro completed the podium, having regrouped after his poor start but failing to take the fight to the blue cars out front.
“I’m so happy to be sitting here and I only do it because of Ma, and my team,” said Björk. “Ma had fantastic pace, but now I owe him one victory, and he knows that. I know that he will claim it back.
“It’s so important to be on the podium, score the wins and collect the points. It’s super-tough at the top, so you need all the points you can get.
“Now we are halfway through the season, and I’m very happy and proud to be here in Vila Real, I know how many people and marshals are working here, and I’m very happy that we’re coming back here next year.”
SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte took fourth for the second successive race, the CUPRA driver gaining two places at the start, although one of those was due to MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson, who should have started fourth, again opting to start from the pitlane.
BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona brought his Hyundai home in fifth, but it perhaps should have been team-mate Norbert Michelisz, until the Hungarian slowed three laps from the finish with a mechanical issue which saw him return to the pits where his mechanics were scratching their heads looking under his bonnet.
That promoted GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri to sixth, ahead of Cyan Racing duo Santiago Urrutia and Yann Ehrlacher in seventh and eighth respectively.
GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti kept Ehrlacher honest for much of the race, but he too encountered an issue on the penultimate lap and had to limp to the pits, promoting team-mate Dušan Borković into ninth, with BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami completing the top ten.
Andersson was 11th in his Lynk & Co, with local wildcard entry Daniel Teixeira in 12th as the best of the Portuguese racers.
Michelisz bagged a handful of points for 13th after limping to take the finish.
Race one winner Ehrlacher leads the drivers’ standings with 250 points, ahead of Guerrieri (223), Urrutia (215), Björk (207) and Ma (149).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 14 | 28:54.886 | 2:02.526 | 3 | |
| 2 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 14 | 0.509 | 2:01.722 | 2 | |
| 3 | 123 |  |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 2.094 | 2:02.878 | 1 | |
| 4 | 107 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 14 | 5.642 | 2:03.433 | 6 | |
| 5 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 9.354 | 2:03.254 | 7 | |
| 6 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 14.288 | 2:02.773 | 8 | |
| 7 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 14 | 14.345 | 2:03.175 | 9 | |
| 8 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 14 | 14.808 | 2:03.408 | 10 | |
| 9 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 16.412 | 2:03.846 | 13 | |
| 10 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 41.536 | 2:03.735 | 14 | |
| 11 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 13 | + 1 LAP | 2:04.049 | 4 | |
| 12 | 59 |  |
Daniel TEIXEIRA | JT59 Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | + 1 LAP | 2:05.353 | 12 | |
| 13 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | + 1 LAP | 2:03.359 | 5 | |
| 14 | 14 |  |
Michel FERNANDES | J. Santos Competição | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | + 1 LAP | 2:12.664 | 15 | |
| 15 | 11 |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | + 2 LAPS | 2:03.622 | 11 | |
| NS | 77 | |
Manuel FERNANDES JR | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
| WD | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |