Yann Ehrlacher got the jump on team-mate Santiago Urrutia at the start of the opening FIA TCR World Tour race in Valencia, heading home a Cyan Racing 1-2-3.
When the lights went out, Urrutia was slower away from the line than Ehrlacher, and as he moved across to defend the inside from his French team-mate, he forced Ehrlacher onto the grass.
Ehrlacher then made slight contact with Urrutia as he came back onto the asphalt, but held firm on the inside into the first corner, where he emerged in front.
Behind them, Monlau Motorsport’s Eric Gené moved inside GOAT Racing’s Ignacio Montenegro, but exiting Turn 2 Gené, who in turn had BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz on the inside, forced Montenegro into the tyre stack on the outside of the corner.
Michelisz thus slipped inside both, whilst Montenegro fell back with damage to the front bonnet and wing of his Honda, eventually retiring to the pits at the end of the lap.
Gené was later handed a ten-second penalty for the incident, but after running in fifth for much of the race, the young Spaniard pitted with three laps to go and eventually finished a lap down.
The race quickly settled down, although on lap six there was light contact between JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché and GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti in the battle for ninth. Butti later retired from the race, stopping on track on lap ten after rejoining from a pitstop, prompting a safety car intervention.
When racing resumed two laps later, Ma dived inside Urrutia for second at Turn 2, but a lap later appeared to give the position back.
The Cyan cars then remained in formation to the finish, with Ehrlacher winning by just under a second from Urrutia, with Ma completing the podium.
Michelisz was the best Hyundai driver in fourth, ahead of the fourth Cyan Lynk & Co of Thed Björk in fifth, the Swede coming from tenth on the grid.
BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami was sixth, having lost out to Björk on lap four, ahead of ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt in seventh and fellow Honda racer Esteban Guerrieri of GOAT Racing in eighth.
The top ten was completed by GOAT Racing’s Felipe Fernández and SP Compétition’s John Filippi, after Briché was given a five-second penalty for a dangerous manoeuvre with Butti, the penalty thus costing the Frenchman seventh.
Filippi will thus start the reverse-grid second race from pole position, with Fernández alongside, after the top ten are reversed.
Race two gets underway at 10:20 CEST (09:20 BST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 32:55.491 | 1:41.594 | 2 | |
| 2 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 0.828 | 1:41.790 | 1 | |
| 3 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 1.852 | 1:41.497 | 3 | |
| 4 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 2.792 | 1:42.068 | 5 | |
| 5 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 4.845 | 1:42.441 | 10 | |
| 6 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 6.655 | 1:42.232 | 9 | |
| 7 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 9.665 | 1:42.204 | 11 | |
| 8 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 10.182 | 1:42.489 | 13 | |
| 9 | 19 |  |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 10.583 | 1:42.431 | 15 | |
| 10 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 11.275 | 1:42.842 | 17 | |
| 11 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 12.076 | 1:43.032 | 16 | |
| 12 | 4 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 14.561 | 1:42.705 | 12 | |
| 13 | 45 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 16.946 | 1:43.247 | 18 | |
| 14 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:42.022 | 8 | |
| 15 | 28 | |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:42.046 | 6 | |
| 16 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | + 4 LAPS | 1:42.625 | 14 | |
| R | 11 |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:42.835 | 7 | |
| R | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1 | DNF | N/A | 4 |