PMA Motorsport’s Nicolas Taylor scored his maiden TCR Europe victory in the reverse-grid race at Mugello in Italy, claiming a lights-to-flag win ahead of race one winner Alex Ley.
Taylor triumphed in the second lights-to-flag win of the weekend, following on from Ley’s dominant display on Saturday.
It marks the Canadian’s first win in the series on his 16th start, although the two-time TCR Italy champion will perhaps have been boosted by his prior experience on the circuit.
Taylor made a clean start, but behind him team-mate Nicola Baldan, who started fourth, lost the rear of his car and dropped to eighth. Also at Turn 1, ALM Motorsport’s Max Hart made contact with Herrero Racing’s Victor Weyrich, taking both drivers out of the race with damage.
Solite Indigo Racing’s Junesung Park was the early challenge to Taylor’s lead, but the Hyundai driver soon came under pressure from Monlau Motorsport’s Marco Butti.
Park soon found himself having to defend for lap after lap from Butti, who was clearly faster. That allowed ALM’s Mike Halder and Ley to catch up.
Ley had ascended to seventh on the opening lap, and on lap two he picked off both Junui Park and Monlau’s Viktor Andersson to move into fifth.
On lap seven, as Butti dived inside Park for second there was slight contact, unsettling Park’s Hyundai and allowing Butti and Ley into second and third respectively.
Halder then overtook Park for fourth at the end of the lap, but took until the exit of Turn 1 on the next lap to complete the move.
The safety car then had to be called upon on lap nine when Victor Fernández and Julien Briché made contact, leaving the Honda and Hyundai needing recovery from the gravel trap.
At the same time, Butti was handed a five-second penalty for the contact with Park.
When racing resumed with just three minutes left on the clock, Ley dived inside Butti for second at Turn 1, but Butti stood firm and Ley, at risk of losing third, had to back off.
The safety car was then called again when Gabriele Covini got sideways at Turn 1 and was hit by Santiago Concepción’s Aikoa Racing Audi, leaving the former stranded on track.
There was only time for one more lap of racing when the safety car peeled into the pits, with Taylor easing to victory, whilst Butti lost out due to the condensed nature of the pack behind, his five second penalty meaning he was ultimately classified in seventh.
Ley thus took second, with Halder completing the podium in third.
Junesung Park was fourth, ahead of Baldan in fifth, Andersson in sixth, Butti in seventh and Squadra Martino’s Tiago Pernía in eighth.
Monlau Motorsport’s Adam Shepherd had originally finished in sixth, but the Brit was penalised five seconds for contact with team-mate Andersson, dropping him to 16th.
Ley is the early series leader after Mugello with 65 points, ahead of Junesung Park (47), Halder (44), Taylor (42), Baldan (35) etc.
The next round takes place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium from 15-17 May.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 29:22.487 | 1:57.163 | 1 | |
| 2 | 76 |  |
Alex LEY | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 0.835 | 1:56.046 | 10 | |
| 3 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1.428 | 1:57.029 | 6 | |
| 4 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 2.080 | 1:57.431 | 5 | |
| 5 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 2.871 | 1:57.908 | 4 | |
| 6 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 5.396 | 1:57.786 | 2 | |
| 7 | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 5.452 | 1:57.246 | 3 | |
| 8 | 85 |  |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 5.663 | 1:58.268 | 7 | |
| 9 | 112 |  |
Mikhail SIMONOV | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 6.344 | 1:57.948 | 13 | |
| 10 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 6.352 | 1:58.083 | 12 | |
| 11 | 9 |  |
Tom CHIAPPE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 6.432 | 1:58.764 | 21 | |
| 12 | 19 |  |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 7.902 | 1:58.677 | 15 | |
| 13 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 8.547 | 1:58.161 | 16 | |
| 14 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 8.707 | 1:59.072 | 23 | |
| 15 | 22 | |
Giacomo PRANDELLI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 8.968 | 1:58.780 | 18 | |
| 16 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 10.215 | 1:57.876 | 17 | |
| 17 | 37 |  |
Victor CHAN Chun Leung | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 10.344 | 1:58.678 | 20 | |
| 18 | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | + 3 LAPS | 1:58.027 | 9 | |
| R | 24 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:58.605 | 24 | |
| R | 73 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:59.347 | 22 | |
| R | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:58.459 | 8 | |
| R | 69 |  |
Max HART | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 | |
| R | 74 | |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 14 | |
| EX | 145 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 8.049 | 1:58.739 | 19 |