SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte scored a comfortable victory in the opening FIA TCR World Tour race at the Zhuzhou International Circuit in China, ahead of Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk.
Comte had earlier in the day taken pole position in his CUPRA, and the Frenchman duly took a lights-to-flag victory as he controlled the opening race, winning by over three seconds from Björk.
The Lynk & Co driver in second had no answer to Comte’s pace, settling for second and further closing the gap in the championship to 27 points behind Cyan Racing team-mate Yann Ehrlacher.
The podium was completed by BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz, in a race which saw little action at either end of the field.
HMO Customer Racing’s Will Brown took fourth in his Hyundai, passing Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua for the position down the back straight on the second lap. However, Brown had to withstand heavy pressure from Ehrlacher on the last lap to hold on to the place.
Ma, who had won race two at the circuit last year, then allowed team-mate Ehrlacher into fifth, before facing an onslaught from BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona, who took sixth from the Chinese driver into the hairpin on the following lap.
However, Ma retook the position on the penultimate lap and claimed sixth at the chequered flag, ahead of Azcona in seventh.
GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri was eighth, having been in the place for the race duration, although the final top ten placings were a lottery on the last lap, as drivers backed off in an attempt to secure the reverse-grid pole for race two on Sunday.
In the end, Guerrieri was ahead of BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami in ninth and Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia in tenth, the latter claiming the reverse-grid pole.
GOAT Racing’s Ignacio Montenegro was 11th, less than two tenths of a second behind Urrutia, ahead of HMO Customer Racing’s Ryan MacMillan in 12th.
Evolve Racing’s Lo Sze Ho started in tenth and passed Girolami for ninth on the opening lap, but the Hyundai racer then dropped three places on the following lap as he was muscled out and finished in 13th.
Norris Racing’s Chan Chun Leung was 14th, whilst TCR Asia’s Benny Santoso was 15th.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 12:00 local time (05:00 CET, 04:00 GMT) on Sunday, followed by race three at 16:40 local time (09:40 CET, 08:40 GMT).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 107 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 18 LAPS | 1:45.129 | 1 | |
| 2 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 3.060 | 1:45.105 | 2 | |
| 3 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 5.348 | 1:45.382 | 3 | |
| 4 | 301 |  |
Will BROWN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 10.658 | 1:45.527 | 4 | |
| 5 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 11.279 | 1:45.813 | 6 | |
| 6 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 18.390 | 1:46.758 | 5 | |
| 7 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 21.950 | 1:46.079 | 7 | |
| 8 | 186 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 30.555 | 1:46.632 | 8 | |
| 9 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 31.378 | 1:46.652 | 9 | |
| 10 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 31.619 | 1:46.836 | 11 | |
| 11 | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 31.860 | 1:46.847 | 12 | |
| 12 | 5 | |
Ryan MACMILLAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 32.382 | 1:47.001 | 13 | |
| 13 | 281 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 33.080 | 1:46.796 | 10 | |
| 14 | 217 | |
CHAN Chun Leung | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 38.833 | 1:47.261 | 14 | |
| 15 | 56 |  |
Benny SANTOSO | Z Speed Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 48.633 | 1:47.590 | 15 | |
| 16 | 288 |  |
Sean CHANG Chien Shang | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 52.301 | 1:48.083 | 16 | |
| 17 | 86 | |
JIANG Nan | Z.SPEED N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 55.533 | 1:47.849 | 22 | |
| 18 | 23 |  |
Diego MORAN | DM23 Ecuador Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 1:03.657 | 1:47.823 | 17 | |
| 19 | 69 | |
Andy LIANG Wenyao | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 1:09.594 | 1:48.753 | 19 | |
| 20 | 381 |  |
Reinghbert G. DIWA | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 1:16.871 | 1:49.489 | 21 | |
| 21 | 297 | |
YANG Haojie | Z.SPEED N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 1:28.214 | 1:48.460 | 18 | |
| 22 | 310 | |
WANG Yiming | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 1:39.511 | 1:50.306 | 20 |