Monlau Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley scored his second TCR Europe win of the season in the reverse-grid race at the Red Bull Ring, as the title race was thrown wide open.
Reverse-grid pole-sitter Jimmy Clairet immediately went on the defensive at the start, as Target competition’s Max Hart sought to quickly move past the Audi.
However, Hart couldn’t get inside Clairet, who held the advantage for the first four laps. Brickley then dived inside Hart for second at Turn 3 on the opening lap, with the CUPRA driver applying heavy pressure to Clairet from the second lap onwards.
Brickley then dived inside Clairet to take the lead into Turn 2 on the fifth lap, and the Monlau Motorsport racer was followed by Hart into second, with the Irishman briefly challenging the Brit for the lead before Clairet took second back a corner later.
On lap six the safety was called for after MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson, who was running in 11th, clattered into Junesung Park’s Hyundai at Turn 2 and broke his front-left steering.
Just before the yellow flags flew, MM Motorsport’s Marco Butti dived inside Hart for third at Turn 7.
With Andersson’s Lynk & Co stranded on the corner exit, the race had to be neutralised for the next two laps, before the action resumed on lap nine. Park was also out of the race with damage to his Hyundai from the incident.
There were no changes in the first three laps after the safety car, until Raphaël Fournier had to pit from ninth.
Brickley began to pull clear of Clairet, who was coming under pressure from Butti for second. Two laps from the finish, Hart made a mistake which allowed Eric Gené into fourth, but he regained the place on the last lap.
That was because Gené was involved in a controversial incident with Jimmy Clairet at the final corner of the final lap, when Clairet, who had been passed by Butti for second on the penultimate tour, made contact with Gené and ended the race in the gravel.
Gené took the chequered flag in fourth but is under investigation for the incident with Clairet, ahead of PMA Motorsport’s Nicolas Taylor in fifth.
ALM Motorsport’s René Kircher took sixth in another strong showing for the German on his TCR Europe début, ahead of Aikoa Racing’s Nicola Baldan in seventh.
The top ten was completed by Teddy Clairet, RC2 Racing’s Felipe Fernández and ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt, who had recovered to the placing after being spun by Gabriele Covini on lap five, the latter receiving a ten second penalty for the clash but retiring due to the incident anyway.
Santiago Concepción pulled a brave move for seventh past Kircher on the third lap, going around the outside at the penultimate corner, but the Spaniard retired from the race a few laps later, pulling off the circuit behind the safety car with a technical issue on his Honda.
The win for Brickley has moved him up to fourth in the drivers’ standings with 159 points, 28 points behind leader Gené, who has 187 points. Butti is up to second (170 points), with Teddy Clairet falling to third (161 points).
The season finale takes place in Barcelona later this month (27 – 28 September).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 28:13.930 | 1:37.888 | 4 | |
| 2 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 1.632 | 1:37.732 | 7 | |
| 3 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 3.519 | 1:37.597 | 2 | |
| 4 | 28 |  |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 4.247 | 1:37.730 | 9 | |
| 5 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 4.472 | 1:38.008 | 8 | |
| 6 | 108 |  |
René KIRCHER | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 5.701 | 1:38.385 | 5 | |
| 7 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 6.355 | 1:38.509 | 6 | |
| 8 | 20 |  |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 6.859 | 1:38.637 | 14 | |
| 9 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 7.408 | 1:38.421 | 18 | |
| 10 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 7.825 | 1:37.691 | 19 | |
| 11 | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 13.220 | 1:38.762 | 17 | |
| 12 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 13.524 | 1:38.770 | 21 | |
| 13 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 13.846 | 1:39.081 | 15 | |
| 14 | 145 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 1:30.496 | 1:38.515 | 3 | |
| 15 | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | + 1 LAP | 1:37.915 | 1 | |
| R | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:38.447 | 10 | |
| R | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | DNF | 1:38.495 | 11 | |
| R | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:38.799 | 12 | |
| R | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:38.847 | 13 | |
| R | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 1 | DNF | 2:09.995 | 20 | |
| R | 4 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1 | DNF | 2:55.319 | 16 | |
| NS | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
| NS | 82 | |
Jacopo CIMENES | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |