Néstor Girolami claimed victory ahead of Mikel Azcona and Yann Ehrlacher in the opening FIA TCR World Tour race of the weekend in Macau, giving the latter enough points to secure the drivers’ title.
BRC Racing’s Girolami had qualified on pole position with a lap which was three tenths of a second quicker than Ehrlacher on Friday, and the Argentine duly converted that into a lights-to-flag win, despite an initial challenge from Ehrlacher through Reservoir and Mandarin bend on the opening lap.
Ehrlacher’s title rival Thed Björk had initially been close to the leading duo in third through the first corner, but the Swede lost momentum at Mandarin, allowing Azcona to dive inside into Lisboa, as Björk fell to fifth.
There was also contact between BRC’s Norbert Michelisz and GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri away from the line, as the fast-starting Guerrieri dived between team-mate Ignacio Montenegro and Michelisz, resulting in contact which damaged the latter’s car and saw him pit at the end of the lap.
Ehrlacher ran in second for much of the race, but as Azcona closed in he didn’t put up a fight, allowing the Spaniard to take second into Lisboa on lap seven.
Girolami claimed his third win of the season, whilst Azcona made it Hyundai’s second 1-2 result of the year.
Third was enough to give Ehrlacher the title, as the Cyan Racing driver now holds an unassailable 40-point lead over Björk with a race still to run.
Guerrieri was the leading Honda driver in fourth, having got past Björk into Lisboa on the opening lap, leaving Björk to take the chequered flag in fifth.
Ma Qing Hua followed his team-mate home in sixth, with HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan in seventh, the Australian gaining a place on the last lap when Montenegro went down the escape road at Lisboa whilst running in seventh. Montenegro limped around to the final sector, before stopping with an apparent front-left puncture.
Evolve Racing’s Lo Sze Ho was eighth, with SP Compétition’s Max Hart and Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia completing the top ten.
Urrutia had started at the back of the grid following a pair of grid penalties for an engine and gearbox change on his Lynk & Co. The Uruguayan passed Aurélien Comte for 12th on the fourth lap, and then spent several laps trying to pass Pepe Oriola ahead, eventually getting by with three laps to go into Lisboa when Oriola went too deep into the corner and Urrutia nipped inside on the run up San Francisco Hill.
That left Oriola to take 11th on his return to the Guia circuit, ahead of Comte in 12th and the second HMO Hyundai of Ryan MacMillan in 13th.
TCR Asia guest entries Sean Chang and Andy Liang completed the points-paying positions with their first TCR World Tour scores of the season.
Race two is scheduled to take place at 11:00 local time on Sunday (03:00 GMT, 04:00 CET).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 25:21.264 | 2:30.853 | 1 | |
| 2 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 0.562 | 2:30.553 | 7 | |
| 3 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 1.260 | 2:30.885 | 2 | |
| 4 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 2.152 | 2:30.760 | 6 | |
| 5 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 5.984 | 2:30.709 | 3 | |
| 6 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 6.483 | 2:30.948 | 8 | |
| 7 | 30 |  |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 12.889 | 2:31.600 | 9 | |
| 8 | 281 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 16.139 | 2:31.894 | 10 | |
| 9 | 108 |  |
Max HART | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 17.062 | 2:31.975 | 11 | |
| 10 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 31.148 | 2:32.243 | 16 | |
| 11 | 174 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 32.630 | 2:32.713 | 13 | |
| 12 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 33.077 | 2:32.965 | 12 | |
| 13 | 5 | |
Ryan MACMILLAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 33.832 | 2:33.031 | 15 | |
| 14 | 288 |  |
Sean CHANG Chien Shang | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 39.736 | 2:33.436 | 14 | |
| 15 | 69 | |
Andy LIANG Wenyao | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:45.293 | 17 | |
| R | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | DNF | 2:31.055 | 5 | |
| R | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 2 | DNF | N/A | 4 |