BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona and Team Clairet Sport’s Teddy Clairet were the victors in the FIA TCR World Tour races at Circuit Paul Ricard, whilst Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia maintained his championship lead.
Race One
In Sunday’s opening race, held in 32 degree heat at the circuit in the south of France, Azcona scored a dominant victory in a safety car-interrupted sprint.
The Spaniard made a good start when the lights went out, but racing only lasted half a lap because of a safety car intervention caused when Raphaël Fournier made contact with Damiano Reduzzi on the approach to the first corner, resulting in the former suffering from broken front suspension.
Reduzzi managed to continue, although Manuel Fernandes, also caught up in the incident, retired a few laps later.
When racing resumed on lap three, Azcona was able to keep Geely Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher at bay to claim a first victory of the season.
Ehrlacher had to settle for second, almost three seconds adrift at the chequered flag, whilst BRC’s Norbert Michelisz completed the podium, having got a run on Thed Björk exiting the final corner on lap three, completing the move into the first corner.
Björk then ran in fourth for most of the rest of the race, but the Geely driver picked up a puncture two laps from the end, forcing him to pit and taking him out of the top ten.
ALM Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley had been running just behind the Swede for the duration of much of the race, but he too picked up a puncture on the same lap and finished just outside the top ten.
Those misfortunes promoted SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte into fourth, ahead of Teddy Clairet in fifth in the CUPRA which he is running in his self-run team for the first time this weekend.
Points leader Urrutia was sixth, ahead of team-mate Ma Qing Hua in seventh, despite both drivers starting from the back of the grid due to penalties, whilst the top ten was completed by JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché, Reduzzi and SP Compétition’s Tom Pussier.
Despite showing very strong early weekend pace, Herrero Racing’s Victor Weyrich failed to start the race due to an engine problem he suffered in qualifying.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 18 | 30:01.738 | 1:32.667 | 1 | |
| 2 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 18 | 2.949 | 1:32.839 | 2 | |
| 3 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 18 | 7.814 | 1:32.682 | 3 | |
| 4 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 10.109 | 1:33.514 | 6 | |
| 5 | 120 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 10.704 | 1:33.580 | 7 | |
| 6 | 181 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 18 | 18.958 | 1:33.602 | 14 | |
| 7 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 18 | 19.417 | 1:33.489 | 15 | |
| 8 | 24 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 20.063 | 1:33.529 | 9 | |
| 9 | 81 |  |
Damiano REDUZZI | Trico WRT | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 39.259 | 1:34.365 | 11 | |
| 10 | 170 | |
Tom PUSSIER | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 53.310 | 1:35.551 | 10 | |
| 11 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 58.271 | 1:33.237 | 5 | |
| 12 | 22 | |
Gilles CHAUVIN | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 1:00.690 | 1:35.929 | 13 | |
| 13 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 18 | 1:26.860 | 1:33.156 | 4 | |
| R | 13 |  |
Manuel FERNANDES JR | Vannin Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 6 | DNF | 1:34.269 | 8 | |
| R | 145 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 | |
| NS | 74 | |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 16 |
Race Two
Race two saw Fernandes line up on the reverse-grid pole position with Ma alongside, but it was Clairet who stole the show at the start. As Ma dived inside Fernandes for the lead before Turn 1, Clairet took to the outside line and went the long way around Ma’s Geely Preface through the first two corners.
Clairet then held the lead thereafter in his CUPRA, benefitting when Urrutia and Ma made side-by-side contact at the chicane which saw Urrutia take second before Ma reclaimed the position on the following lap.
Although Clairet had early race breathing space, the Frenchman came under pressure from Ma later in the race as the Chinese driver’s tyres coped better in the high temperatures, allowing Ma to close in but not pass, as Clairet took victory on home soil by just over a tenth of a second.
Behind Ma, Urrutia completed the podium to maintain a championship lead of six points over Azcona leaving France.
Azcona came from eighth on the grid to take fourth at the finish as the top Hyundai, despite trying to pass Urrutia for the final podium place, including with a bold move on the Uruguayan five laps from the finish which saw Azcona go wide at the first corner.
Björk finished in fifth ahead of team-mate Ehrlacher, whilst Michelisz was seventh in his compensation weight-laden Hyundai.
Brickley was eighth, having been forced to start from the back of the grid due to another reprimand taking his season tally to three and earning him a penalty.
The top ten was completed by Fernandes and Reduzzi, both drivers benefitting when Briché picked up a puncture five laps from the finish.
Race two result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 120 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 24:57.980 | 1:32.420 | 3 | |
| 2 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 16 | 0.153 | 1:32.449 | 2 | |
| 3 | 181 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 16 | 5.374 | 1:32.952 | 5 | |
| 4 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 16 | 6.553 | 1:32.644 | 8 | |
| 5 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 16 | 7.740 | 1:32.827 | 6 | |
| 6 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 16 | 7.945 | 1:32.545 | 9 | |
| 7 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 16 | 12.476 | 1:33.224 | 7 | |
| 8 | 246 | |
Jenson BRICKLEY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 16 | 13.254 | 1:33.032 | 15 | |
| 9 | 13 | |
Manuel FERNANDES JR | Vannin Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 21.668 | 1:33.553 | 1 | |
| 10 | 81 | |
Damiano REDUZZI | Trico WRT | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 28.862 | 1:34.308 | 12 | |
| 11 | 145 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 32.133 | 1:34.295 | 13 | |
| 12 | 22 | |
Gilles CHAUVIN | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 16 | 1:00.651 | 1:35.868 | 14 | |
| 13 | 170 | |
Tom PUSSIER | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | + 1 LAP | 1:34.706 | 11 | |
| R | 24 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | DNF | 1:33.148 | 10 | |
| R | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | DNF | 1:32.961 | 4 | |
| NS | 74 | |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |