SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte scored his second win of the weekend in the FIA TCR World Tour finale at Zhuzhou, scoring a lights-to-flag win once again ahead of Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk.
Comte started from pole position thanks to having had the highest score of the weekend prior to the race, and the CUPRA driver made a good start to lead from the off, with Björk assuming second.
The Frenchman had extended a near four-second advantage at the front by mid-distance, before the safety car was called upon when Ignacio Montenegro broke the front-right suspension on his Honsa by hitting a kerb, getting stranded at the final corner.
When the race resumed on lap nine, Comte made a perfect restart and pulled a second clear of the chasing Lynk & Co, thereafter managing the gap to the chequered flag to win his third race of the season.
Championship leader Yann Ehrlacher completed the podium in third, although with his only title rival Björk finishing ahead of him, the points gap was slightly reduced to a still comfortable 34 points ahead of the season finale in Macau later this month.
HMO Customer Racing’s Will Brown was fourth, having battled past fellow Hyundai racer Néstor Girolami for the position on the fourth lap.
Girolami lost out on the final lap of the race, as Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia sneaked fifth ahead of HMO Customer Racing’s Ryan MacMillan in sixth, who was the biggest beneficiary, going from tenth to sixth on the last lap alone.
Girolami crossed the finish line in seventh, ahead of BRC Racing team-mate Norbert Michelisz in eighth, the Hungarian having been compromised in the race by the loss of a side skirt on his car.
The top ten was completed by Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua, who dropped two places across the line as he slowed with an apparent issue on his Lynk & Co, and BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona.
After retiring from race two, GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri was just 12th, finishing the race where he started and seeing his title hopes extinguished.
Ehrlacher leads the drivers’ standings with 446 points, ahead of Björk (412), Guerrieri (345), Urrutia (325) and Comte (286) etc.
The season concludes in Macau in two weeks’ time.
Race three result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 107 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 17 | 32:39.771 | 1:45.540 | 2 | |
| 2 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 1.219 | 1:46.298 | 1 | |
| 3 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 2.297 | 1:46.346 | 3 | |
| 4 | 301 |  |
Will BROWN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 3.004 | 1:46.075 | 4 | |
| 5 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 9.432 | 1:46.733 | 9 | |
| 6 | 5 | |
Ryan MACMILLAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 14.277 | 1:47.252 | 14 | |
| 7 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 14.905 | 1:46.724 | 8 | |
| 8 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 15.003 | 1:46.610 | 6 | |
| 9 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 17 | 15.130 | 1:46.557 | 7 | |
| 10 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 15.407 | 1:46.300 | 5 | |
| 11 | 281 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 16.386 | 1:47.277 | 11 | |
| 12 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 17 | 18.100 | 1:47.151 | 12 | |
| 13 | 23 |  |
Diego MORAN | DM23 Ecuador Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 17 | 25.728 | 1:47.749 | 17 | |
| 14 | 86 | |
JIANG Nan | Z.SPEED N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 30.262 | 1:48.257 | 22 | |
| 15 | 56 |  |
Benny SANTOSO | Z Speed Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 39.241 | 1:47.764 | 15 | |
| 16 | 288 |  |
Sean CHANG Chien Shang | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 43.471 | 1:49.093 | 18 | |
| 17 | 297 | |
YANG Haojie | Z.SPEED N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 47.271 | 1:48.980 | 16 | |
| 18 | 310 | |
WANG Yiming | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 17 | 51.585 | 1:51.216 | 21 | |
| R | 381 |  |
Reinghbert G. DIWA | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:48.722 | 19 | |
| R | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | DNF | 1:47.210 | 10 | |
| R | 217 | |
CHAN Chun Leung | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | DNF | 1:49.337 | 13 | |
| NS | 69 | |
Andy LIANG Wenyao | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 20 |