WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli won a hard-fought first race in the TCR International Series at the Red Bull Ring, beating Target Competition duo Stefano Comini and Andrea Belicchi after several changes for the lead.
Pole man Morbidelli lost the lead to team-mate Kevin Gleason at the start of the race, with Comini then getting past both Hondas further around the same lap to take the lead, with Morbidelli following through into second.
Comini held a slender lead for a handful of laps, with Morbidelli all over the back of the SEAT driver. The Honda driver attempted a pass on lap three with slight contact on Comini, which in turn allowed Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola into second, although Morbidelli was able to retake the position a lap later.
The top four cars were separated by less than a second heading onto lap nine, with Comini then going wide under pressure and allowing Morbidelli to take a short-lived lead. A few corners later at the end of the lap Comini was able to slip past back into the lead, with Belicchi also following through in a thrilling battle for the lead.
The battle reached its conclusion on the penultimate lap, where Comini and Morbidelli, who was back into second, made frequent contact as they battled side-by-side. With his tyres appearing to fade, Comini went wide at the final turn to give Morbidelli a lead he would not lose on the final lap of the race.
Comini and Belicchi completed the podium positions, with Oriola forced to settle for fourth in a race where the Spaniard struggled to challenge for the lead.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Jordi Gené finished a somewhat distant fifth, ahead of Gleason, who had fallen down the order by lap six and lost out to Gené in the closing laps.
The third Craft-Bamboo car of Sergey Afanasyev finished in seventh, ahead of Russian compatriot Mikhail Grachev in eighth, who gave the brand new Volkswagen Golf TCR car points in its first-ever race.
Lorenzo Veglia finished in ninth in the sole Liqui Moly Team Engstler SEAT León, ahead of new team-mate Pol Rosell in tenth in the second of the team’s new Golf cars.
The race featured two retirements, with Zengő Motorsport rookie Dániel Nagy crashing out exiting the final corner on the opening lap, and Proteam Racing’s Diego Romanini spinning out of the race after six laps.
Morbidelli’s win sees him close the gap in the championship battle for just three points to leader Comini, with Oriola ten points adrift in third.
Race two takes place at 10:30 BST (11:30 CEST).
UPDATE: Gianni Morbidelli was later handed a post-race 30-second penalty for unsporting driving, dropping the Honda driver out of the points to 11th position.
Original race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 14 LAPS | 1:39.764 | 1 |
| 2 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 0.621 | 1:40.265 | 4 |
| 3 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1.186 | 1:40.724 | 7 |
| 4 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1.278 | 1:40.698 | 6 |
| 5 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 5.743 | 1:41.162 | 8 |
| 6 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 6.003 | 1:41.224 | 2 |
| 7 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 7.049 | 1:40.924 | 5 |
| 8 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 14 | 7.389 | 1:41.389 | 9 |
| 9 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 9.016 | 1:41.015 | 11 |
| 10 | 42 | Pol ROSELL | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 14 | 9.324 | 1:41.140 | 10 |
| 11 | 41 | Michela CERRUTI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 18.306 | 1:41.809 | 12 |
| 12 | 20 | Igor SKUZ |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 54.646 | 1:42.241 | 14 |
| 13 | 40 | Gabriele MAROTTA |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 1 Lap | 1:48.437 | 13 |
| R | 72 | Diego ROMANINI | |
Proteam Racing | Ford Focus RS | 6 | 8 Laps | 1:49.992 | 15 |
| R | 43 | Dániel NAGY |  |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León Racer | 0 | 14 Laps | N/A | 3 |