Kevin Gleason converted his Salzburgring pole position into a maiden win in the TCR International Series, bringing home his WestCoast Racing Honda ahead of Target Competition SEAT duo Stefano Comini and Andrea Belicchi.
American racer Gleason led the race from start to finish and was never challenged by Comini, who got off to a strong start to take second from Gianni Morbidelli on the opening lap. Gleason then pulled out an advantage of around a second going into the second half of the race, to ensure he had just enough of a margin to take victory.
Belicchi took the final podium position, having passed Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Jordi Gené on the penultimate lap of the race.
Gené finished in fourth, ahead of Morbidelli, who lost ground when challenging Comini for second on lap nine, making contact with Pepe Oriola as the Spaniard sensed an opportunity to pass. The Italian recovered slightly, having dropped as low as sixth, by passing Oriola on lap 11, with the Spaniard having also lost ground in the move after running in fourth behind Morbidelli in the early laps. Oriola had to settle for sixth, unable to find a way past the Honda of Morbidelli.
Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Lorenzo Veglia was seventh, ahead of the third Craft-Bamboo SEAT of Sergey Afanasyev in eighth.
Completing the top ten were Bas Schouten and Markus Östreich, who scored his first TCR points on his début in the Campos Racing Opel Astra.
Michel Nykjær was running in tenth when the Dane pulled into the pits with apparent mechanical problems. He returned to the race, but was not a classified finisher after losing four laps in the pits.
The second Engstler Motorsport SEAT of Mikhail Grachev failed to finish the race, after the Russian was tagged by Belicchi heading into the first chicane on the opening lap.
Ukrainian driver Igor Skuz also failed to finish, having suffered a high-speed spin on lap eight in which he spun across the second half of the pack, having put a wheel on the dirt on the outside of turn ten.
A puncture for Zsolt Szabó ruined the Hungarian’s chances of points on lap 12, with the Zengő Motorsport driver pitched off the circuit at the Ostschleife corner. Fernando Monje failed to start the race, suffering with further engine woes on his Campos Opel.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 15 | 22:14.024 | 1:27.818 | 1 |
| 2 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 2.838 | 1:27.936 | 3 |
| 3 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 5.109 | 1:27.948 | 7 |
| 4 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 5.595 | 1:28.202 | 5 |
| 5 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 15 | 5.919 | 1:28.037 | 2 |
| 6 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 7.399 | 1:28.210 | 4 |
| 7 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 7.857 | 1:28.188 | 11 |
| 8 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 8.214 | 1:28.171 | 6 |
| 9 | 34 | Bas SCHOUTEN |  |
ST Motorsport / Bas Koeten Racing | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 15.293 | 1:28.203 | 12 |
| 10 | 16 | Markus ÖSTREICH |  |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 15 | 17.935 | 1:28.364 | 13 |
| 11 | 46 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León Racer | 12 | — 12 laps — | 1:28.202 | 14 |
| 12 | 17 | Michel NYKJÆR |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 11 | — 11 laps — | 1:28.025 | 9 |
| R | 20 | Igor SKUZ |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | — 8 laps — | 1:28.087 | 10 |
| R | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 5 | — 5 laps — | 1:29.045 | 8 |
| NS | 19 | Fernando MONJE | |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | – | DNS | N/A | 15 |