ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt scored victory in the second TCR Europe race at Spa-Francorchamps, having made an inspired decision to pit for wet tyres behind an early race safety car period.
Ahead of the race, drizzle began to fall from the skies and gradually intensified, although most of the field started on slick rubber.
BRC Racing’s Gabriele Covini started the reverse-grid race from pole position, but the Hyundai driver made an awful start, immediately dropping to tenth before the first corner.
Behind him, Volt made a good start but moved across to defend the inside line into La Source from the outside line, in turn forcing Monlau Motorsport’s Adam Shepherd onto the grass.
Shepherd, with dirty tyres, then struggled to slow his CUPRA into the Turn 1 hairpin and clattered into the side of team-mate Marco Butti, as PMA Motorsport’s Nicola Baldan assumed the lead ahead of the Solite Indigo Racing Hyundai of Junesung Park.
In the ensuing chaos at Turn 1, Mike Halder also bumped into the second Indigo Racing car of Junui Park, spinning the South Korean racer, with the melee also allowing Covini to reclaim some places back up to fifth.
At the end of the opening lap, the safety car was called upon to recover the stricken Honda of Victor Fernández, who had crashed into the barriers at the exit of Turn 10 following contact from Jac Constable’s Audi – at the same time, in avoidance, Victor Weyrich made contact with the right-rear of Sandro Pelatti, breaking the CUPRA’s suspension and eliminating both drivers from the race.
Under the safety car, several drivers – Volt, Viktor Andersson and Max Hart – made the decision to pit for wets, a decision which would prove to be inspired later in the race as the rain intensified.
Racing resumed on lap five, with Volt, who had been 18th after his pitstop, already up to tenth by the end of the lap.
Nicolas Taylor passed Junesung Park for the lead into Eau Rouge on the sixth lap, the duo banging doors in the process, with the pass completed into Les Combes.
Taylor would lead the next two laps, struggling in the conditions, with Park initially defending second from Baldan and Halder.
However, Volt was soon in the mix along with Squadra Martino’s Tiago Pernía, who had a combination of wet-and-slick tyres on his Honda.
On lap seven, Pernía tried to take second from Park into the chicane, but with contact between the duo, Volt was able to pass both and take second, although he didn’t complete the pass until Les Combes early on the next lap.
It took the young Estonian just half a lap to catch and pass Taylor for the lead at Turn 14, and he never looked back, winning comfortably by over four seconds.
Pernía took second, with Taylor hanging on to complete the podium. Halder was fourth – although only just – after Hart nearly clinched the place on the line, the Irishman instead stealing fifth from Park in the final metres, with Park taking sixth.
Butti held on to take seventh, despite the Italian having run fourth in the opening laps he fell down the order as the race progressed and those on wet rubber caught up.
PMA’s Baldan was clearly struggling in the final laps and slipped to eighth after running wide on numerous occasions, whilst the top ten was completed by Aikoa Racing’s Giacomo Prandelli and Monlau’s Shepherd.
Race one winner Felipe Fernández was just 13th, unable to replicate his blistering Saturday speed in the wet conditions, having started from tenth on the grid.
Late in the race conditions continued to catch out several drivers – Michael Markussen fell off the circuit on lap six at Turn 13 whilst running in eighth and eventually finished in 14th, whilst pole-sitter Covini made contact with Shepherd at Les Combes on lap eight and retired with damage to his Hyundai.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 29:09.144 | 2:52.280 | 4 | |
| 2 | 85 |  |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 4.059 | 2:54.494 | 12 | |
| 3 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 6.869 | 2:55.657 | 6 | |
| 4 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 10.933 | 2:56.418 | 9 | |
| 5 | 69 |  |
Max HART | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 11.116 | 2:52.671 | 15 | |
| 6 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 11.399 | 2:55.746 | 3 | |
| 7 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 12.313 | 2:56.537 | 7 | |
| 8 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 13.811 | 2:56.337 | 2 | |
| 9 | 22 | |
Giacomo PRANDELLI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 14.181 | 2:57.196 | 16 | |
| 10 | 117 |  |
Adam SHEPHERD | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 23.807 | 2:57.733 | 5 | |
| 11 | 33 |  |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 25.403 | 2:57.492 | 19 | |
| 12 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 26.193 | 2:57.887 | 8 | |
| 13 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 27.822 | 2:59.442 | 10 | |
| 14 | 18 |  |
Michael MARKUSSEN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 29.433 | 2:57.613 | 13 | |
| 15 | 37 |  |
Victor CHAN Chun Leung | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 32.181 | 2:59.336 | 18 | |
| 16 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 32.768 | 2:59.914 | 11 | |
| 17 | 11 | |
Jac CONSTABLE | JH Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 36.348 | 3:00.418 | 21 | |
| 18 | 34 |  |
Stian PAULSEN | Stian Paulsen Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | + 1 LAP | 2:55.540 | 17 | |
| 19 | 9 |  |
Tom CHIAPPE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 8 | + 1 LAP | 3:00.123 | 20 | |
| 20 | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | + 2 LAPS | 2:56.234 | 1 | |
| R | 74 | |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 1 | DNF | 3:32.797 | 14 | |
| R | 73 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 22 | |
| R | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 23 | |
| NS | 76 | |
Alex LEY | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |