PMA Motorsport’s Nicolas Taylor claimed victory in the second TCR Europe race at Circuit Paul Ricard, after erstwhile race leader Victor Weyrich retired from the race with an issue.
Gabriele Covini started the reverse-grid race from pole position but was quickly passed by the PMA Motorsport Audi of Taylor into Turn 1, with Covini falling to fourth by just half a lap, as Herrero Racing’s Victor Weyrich and SP Compétition’s Mikhail Simonov also got by at Turns 4 and 5.
Covini was then passed by the second PMA Audi of Nicola Baldan along the Mistral straight, with Squadra Martino’s Tiago Pernía also following past at Turn 10, as covini went wide and fell to eighth by the end of the opening lap.
At the front, Weyrich kept Taylor honest in his CUPRA, nibbling the rear of the leading Audi on the second and third laps, before seizing the lead into Turn 11 when Taylor went wide with a small mistake.
Weyrich then led the following three laps, before pulling off the circuit suddenly on lap seven and stopping at Turn 5 with an apparent issue on his car.
Taylor was then handed the lead back, and the Canadian kept himself in front for the following seven laps to claim the lead by just under three tenths of a second from the CUPRA of Simonov, who kept close, but not close enough to attack, for the rest of the race.
Baldan completed the podium, having run close to Simonov for the final half of the race and despite a final-lap puncture, but the race one winner was handed a five-second time penalty for cutting Turn 2 and dropped to fourth, promoting the Hyundai of Solite Indigo Racing’s Junui Park onto the podium in third.
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt took fifth, having made steady progress in the second half of the race to finish as the leading Honda driver, ahead of Pernía in sixth.
Covini took the chequered flag in seventh, having spent much of the second half of the race battling with Herrero Racing’s Matéo Herrero, but the CUPRA racer was later handed 15 seconds’ worth of time penalties for exceeding track limits.
Thus, Michael Markussen was eighth, with the top ten completed by Aikoa Racing’s Giacomo Prandelli and SP Compétition’s Sandro Pelatti.
Mike Halder had been set for sixth, but the ALM driver suffered from a last lap puncture before being collected by Aikoa Racing’s Santiago Concepción on the run to the finish line. Therefore Halder fell to 13th, a place below Concepción, who had significant front-end damage to his Audi as a result.
Herrero fell to 14th as a result of his penalties, whilst Saturday’s qualifying pole-sitter Viktor Andersson was only 15th after falling down the order in the opening laps.
Victory for Taylor means he now holds a 20-point championship leader over team-mate Baldan, with Halder in third, 32 points adrift.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 29:07.552 | 2:13.302 | 2 | |
| 2 | 112 |  |
Mikhail SIMONOV | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 0.284 | 2:13.550 | 4 | |
| 3 | 87 |  |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 6.438 | 2:13.752 | 5 | |
| 4 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 10.142 | 2:13.646 | 7 | |
| 5 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 14.032 | 2:13.703 | 12 | |
| 6 | 85 |  |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 17.423 | 2:14.570 | 6 | |
| 7 | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 22.802 | 2:14.583 | 1 | |
| 8 | 18 |  |
Michael MARKUSSEN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 23.676 | 2:14.626 | 16 | |
| 9 | 22 | |
Giacomo PRANDELLI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 30.195 | 2:14.801 | 20 | |
| 10 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 31.877 | 2:14.988 | 24 | |
| 11 | 76 |  |
Alex LEY | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 32.536 | 2:15.139 | 22 | |
| 12 | 33 |  |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 35.775 | 2:14.421 | 19 | |
| 13 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 36.068 | 2:13.944 | 9 | |
| 14 | 29 |  |
Matéo HERRERO | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 40.254 | 2:15.181 | 11 | |
| 15 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:27.804 | 2:16.966 | 10 | |
| 16 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:28.227 | 2:13.977 | 14 | |
| 17 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:50.126 | 2:13.901 | 15 | |
| 18 | 73 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 2:14.333 | 23 | |
| 19 | 97 | |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 2:14.791 | 13 | |
| R | 74 | |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:13.040 | 3 | |
| R | 37 |  |
Victor CHAN Chun Leung | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | DNF | 2:16.046 | 21 | |
| R | 69 |  |
Max HART | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | DNF | N/A | 18 | |
| R | 9 | |
Tom CHIAPPE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 2 | DNF | N/A | 17 | |
| R | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 2 | DNF | N/A | 8 |