Nicola Baldan won the opening TCR Europe race at Circuit Paul Ricard, as early leaders Mikhail Simonov and Mike Halder were struck by punctures.
Pole-sitter Viktor Andersson came under early pressure from the Audi of Baldan at the start, whilst further back Hong Kong racer victor Chan made the mother of all jump starts, for which he would later be penalised with five seconds added to his race time.
Exiting the first corner, Marco Butti came back at Andersson, whilst Baldan lost out to the CUPRA of Simonov and the Honda of Halder.
As Butti and Andersson then squabbled for the lead, reigning TCR Russia champion Simonov stole the lead at the final corner, with Halder then taking second into Turn 1 on the second lap.
Simonov eased into a one-second lead over Halder over the next two laps, before the Russian picked up a front-left puncture at the end of the third lap and had to pit.
Victor Weyrich, meanwhile, had worked his SP Compétition CUPRA into third bny this stage, which became second as Simonov pitted for new rubber.
Halder then led the next three laps in his Honda before he too suffered a front-left puncture, handing the lead to Weyrich at the mid-distance.
However, Weyrich would only hold the lead for three laps himself before he was overtaken by Baldan into the chicane on the tenth lap, giving the Itlaian a lead he would not lose.
Baldan eased off in the final laps, scoring a comfortable victory by just under a second from Weyrich. Andersson completed the podium, whilst team-mate Butti also picked up a late puncture and fell from fourth to 20th.
That promoted ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt to fourth, the Estonian coming from 12th on the grid to battle for the podium.
Lap eight saw Volt battle past fellow Honda racer Tiago Pernía with some door-rubbing racing, with Pernía going on to finish in fifth in his Squadra Martino Civic.
PMA Motorsport’s Nicolas Taylor was sixth in his Audi, ahead of series newcomer Matéo Herrero in seventh. Alex Ley came from the back of the grid to take eighth in his BRC Racing Hyundai – the top Elantra driver after troubles struck team-mate Gabriele Covini early in the race.
The top ten was completed by Aikoa Racing’s Santiago Concepción and Solite Indigo Racing’s Junesung Park.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 10:15 CEST on Sunday (09:15 BST).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 29:08.631 | 2:13.018 | 4 | |
| 2 | 74 |  |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 0.842 | 2:13.200 | 8 | |
| 3 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 5.519 | 2:13.381 | 1 | |
| 4 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 9.534 | 2:13.071 | 12 | |
| 5 | 85 |  |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 10.727 | 2:13.523 | 5 | |
| 6 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 11.503 | 2:13.731 | 9 | |
| 7 | 29 | |
Matéo HERRERO | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 14.855 | 2:14.339 | 11 | |
| 8 | 76 |  |
Alex LEY | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 15.151 | 2:14.028 | 22 | |
| 9 | 33 |  |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 21.441 | 2:14.381 | 19 | |
| 10 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 21.800 | 2:14.807 | 13 | |
| 11 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 23.091 | 2:13.522 | 15 | |
| 12 | 22 | |
Giacomo PRANDELLI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 27.599 | 2:14.916 | 20 | |
| 13 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 29.913 | 2:15.161 | 24 | |
| 14 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 32.251 | 2:13.984 | 6 | |
| 15 | 37 |  |
Victor CHAN Chun Leung | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 32.270 | 2:14.702 | 21 | |
| 16 | 112 |  |
Mikhail SIMONOV | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 58.249 | 2:12.607 | 7 | |
| 17 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:13.527 | 2:12.962 | 2 | |
| 18 | 69 |  |
Max HART | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:17.047 | 2:14.291 | 18 | |
| 19 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:40.338 | 2:14.456 | 14 | |
| 20 | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:50.084 | 2:13.500 | 3 | |
| 21 | 9 | |
Tom CHIAPPE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 2:13.838 | 17 | |
| 22 | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 2:13.964 | 10 | |
| R | 73 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:14.904 | 23 | |
| R | 18 |  |
Michael MARKUSSEN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 4 | DNF | 2:15.758 | 16 |