Josh Buchan scored his second FIA TCR World Tour victory of the season by prevailing against race-long attacks in the Guia Race in Macau, ahead of Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua.
Buchan started the reverse-grid race from pole position and immediately came under pressure from Ma at the start through Fisherman’s bend, but it was Ma’s Lynk & Co Santiago Urrutia who emerged in second on the run down to Mandarin corner.
Urrutia then spent much of the race trying to find a way past the leading Hyundai, repeatedly looking to the outside line at Lisboa corner but finding Buchan defending heavily under braking.
Things came to a head on lap seven when Urrutia, having failed to get a run into Lisboa, carried his momentum on the approach to San Francisco hill but made contact with Buchan on the approach and in turn had contact with the pursuing Hyundai of Mikel Azcona.
The contact resulted in a left-rear puncture for Urrutia, dropping him down the order and ultimately forcing the Uruguayan to pit for a replacement tyre.
The drama promoted Ma into second, the Chinese racer having overtaken Azcona in the process, and he took his turn at challenging Buchan for the lead.
However, the HMO Customer Racing driver prevailed and won by less than a second from Ma.
Azcona ran in third until the penultimate lap when the BRC Racing driver slowed on the approach to Lisboa with a puncture, handing Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk the final podium position.
Ignacio Montenegro led home GOAT Racing team-mate Esteban Guerrieri in fourth and fifth respectively, with Guerrieri having run ahead of both Björk and Montenegro for much of the race until he was baulked by the slowing Azcona at Mandarin corner on lap eight and lost positions to both.
Race one winner Néstor Girolami brought his Hyundai home in sixth, ahead of an impressive showing by SP Compétition’s Max Hart, who was seventh in his CUPRA, having also posted the fastest lap of the race.
BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz was eighth, although the Hungarian had a part to play in a somewhat unfortunate end to the season for new champion Yann Ehrlacher – Michelisz had been in seventh directly behind Ehrlacher on the final lap when he nudged the Lynk & Co at Lisboa and sent Ehrlacher gently into the barriers.
That incident promoted HMO Customer Racing’s Ryan MacMillan to ninth, with Evolve Racing’s Lo Sze Ho completing the top ten, as Ehrlacher eventually made it to the finish in 11th.
SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte also went down the Lisboa escape road, resulting in the CUPRA driver finishing in 12th, whilst Azcona limped home in 13th.
The only retirement of the race was GOAT Racing’s Pepe Oriola, who pitted with an issue on his car after one lap.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 30 |  |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 25:32.673 | 2:31.773 | 1 | |
| 2 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 0.414 | 2:31.679 | 2 | |
| 3 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 2.405 | 2:31.392 | 8 | |
| 4 | 123 |  |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 3.930 | 2:31.450 | 6 | |
| 5 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 5.354 | 2:31.778 | 5 | |
| 6 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 5.815 | 2:31.554 | 10 | |
| 7 | 108 |  |
Max HART | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 7.008 | 2:30.899 | 12 | |
| 8 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 12.502 | 2:31.460 | 7 | |
| 9 | 5 | |
Ryan MACMILLAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 13.432 | 2:32.530 | 16 | |
| 10 | 281 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 16.264 | 2:32.622 | 11 | |
| 11 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 24.020 | 2:31.441 | 9 | |
| 12 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 1:50.003 | 2:32.718 | 13 | |
| 13 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:01.896 | 2:31.809 | 4 | |
| 14 | 288 |  |
Sean CHANG Chien Shang | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:34.331 | 15 | |
| 15 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:31.749 | 3 | |
| 16 | 69 | |
Andy LIANG Wenyao | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:46.635 | 17 | |
| R | 174 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1 | DNF | 3:00.206 | 14 |