Stefano Comini led Target Competition team-mate Loris Hezemans to victory in the second TCR International Series race in Thailand, scoring his fifth win of the season to retake the championship lead.
Comini led the race from lights-to-flag, after pole man Hugo Valente failed to make the start of the race in his Campos Racing Opel. That allowed Comini’s team-mate Loris Hezemans into second, where the duo would remain for the entire race distance, with Hezemans protecting Comini from any challenge behind.
Despite taking a dominant fifth win of the season and regaining the championship lead, Comini cut a frustrated figure after the race.
“It was a very bad weekend,” said the race winner. “From free practice we had a problem with the car every time. SEAT don’t know what happened with my car – it was very bad in practice, qualifying and race one. OK, I was fifth, but Pepe won the race.
“Now I’ll take the lead of the championship and we’ll see what happens in Macau. This is not only my victory, but this victory is for Target Competition.”
Race one winner Pepe Oriola completed the podium in third, despite the Craft-Bamboo driver trying everything he could to get past the SEAT of Hezemans for second. The result means the Comini regains the drivers’ championship lead by just two points from Oriola ahead of the final meeting in Macau.
Fourth went to the second Craft-Bamboo car of Jordi Gen, who remains the only other driver in championship contention, 34 points adrift of Comini.
Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Lorenzo Veglia enjoyed one of his best races of the season so far to finish in fifth, ahead of team-mate Tomas Engström in sixth, and Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev in seventh.
Asia Racing Team’s Tin Sritrai was the top TCR Asia Series competitor in eighth, having fouth throughout the race with Thai compatriot Munkong Sathienthirakul, who was ninth. Target Competition’s Rafaël Galiana completed the top ten.
West Coast Racing endured a disastrous race, with Gianni Morbidelli stopping on the track on lap ten with engine problems whilst running in fourth. Team-mate Kevin Gleason was forced to retire from the race after contact on his right-rear wheel.
Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente had been due to start the race from pole position, but the Frenchman stalled his Opel at the end of the formation lap and was pushed into the pits, failing to start the race.
There was also bad luck for the Top Run Motorsport Subaru of Alain Menu, who failed to take the start due to the differential problems he encountered in race one, whilst the Engstler Motorsport Volkswagen of Mikhail Grachev also failed to take the start with gearbox problems.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 14 LAPS | 1:45.104 | 2 |
| 2 | 15 | Loris HEZEMANS |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 2.746 | 1:45.030 | 3 |
| 3 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 3.163 | 1:44.772 | 9 |
| 4 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 4.098 | 1:44.862 | 6 |
| 5 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 15.594 | 1:45.307 | 4 |
| 6 | 4 | Tomas ENGSTRÖM |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 14 | 15.993 | 1:45.493 | 13 |
| 7 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 16.442 | 1:44.679 | 7 |
| 8 | 31 | Tin SRITRAI |  |
Asia Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 24.318 | 1:46.260 | 20 |
| 9 | 80 | Munkong SATHIENTHIRAKUL | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 25.773 | 1:45.243 | 12 |
| 10 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 27.74 | 1:46.271 | 15 |
| 11 | 69 | Kevin PU |  |
Asia Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 33.799 | 1:46.058 | 16 |
| 12 | 66 | Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA |  |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 37.157 | 1:46.442 | 19 |
| 13 | 68 | Michael CHOI |  |
Prince Racing Hong Kong | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 41.082 | 1:46.688 | 14 |
| 14 | 38 | Kenneth LAU | |
Prince Racing Hong Kong | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 41.988 | 1:46.372 | 17 |
| 15 | 67 | Johnson HUANG |  |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 52.669 | 1:47.732 | 18 |
| 16 | 27 | Robb HOLLAND |  |
FRD Ford HK Racing Team | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 55.771 | 1:46.069 | 22 |
| 17 | 56 | Samson CHAN | |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:08.725 | 1:47.711 | 23 |
| 18 | 65 | Douglas KHOO |  |
Niza Racing | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:30.432 | 1:50.219 | 24 |
| R | 24 | Kevin GLEASON | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 10 laps | 1:44.404 | 8 |
| R | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 8 laps | 1:44.626 | 10 |
| R | 23 | René MÜNNICH |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 7 | 7 laps | 1:44.642 | 11 |
| R | 45 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 0 | DNF | N/A | 1 |
| NS | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 5 |
| NS | 52 | Alain MENU | |
Top Run Motorsport | Subaru STi TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 21 |