The TCR International Series came to a conclusion at the Guia Circuit in Macau, as Target Competition’s Stefano Comini won the final dramatic race of the inaugural season, as well as capturing the Drivers’ Championship.
As was the case with the first race of the weekend, incidents are part and parcel of racing at Macau. WestCoast Racing’s Rob Huff and Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s Jordi Gené made contact heading into Reservoir after the start, with the pair hitting the outer barrier hard.
The incident between Huff and Gené triggered a multiple-car accident, which saw the field decimated to just nine runners, along with a heavy impact for Team Engstler’s Lorenzo Veglia, whose VW Golf hit the barrier twice.
A total of 11 cars including Veglia retired, due to extensive damage to their cars, including Kevin Gleason, Campos Racing’s Josh Files, Sergey Afanasyev and Henry Ho.
After the rolling restart, Comini would come under increasing pressure from Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s Pepe Oriola, but the Spaniard would end up retiring after several contacts with the Swiss driver’s Seat León.
Oriola would pull off the track on Lap seven, after piercing the radiator on his Seat on Comini’s back bumper heading into Lisboa, abruptly ending his title challenge.
The race would eventually see seven cars finish the race, as Target Competition’s Jordi Oriola would have to take a drive-through penalty for going over the pit lane exit line, which meant that Andrea Belicchi would take second, ahead of Team Engstler’s Mikhail Grachev, who rounded out the podium.
WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli would be the sole Honda to finish the race in fourth, ahead of Rodolfo Avila, who took his second win in the Asia Series category. Roadstar Racing’s Robb Holland took sixth place, with Hong Kong’s Keith Chan being the last of the classified finishers.
Along with Comini securing the drivers’ championship, Target Competition secured the team titles at the last gasp with 669 points, just 19 ahead of Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil, with WestCoast Racing rounding out the top three.
Race result
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
1 | 25 | Stefano COMINI | Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 40:07.354 | 2:35.074 | 3 | |
2 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 1.733 | 2:34.917 | 8 | |
3 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 10 | 26.549 | 2:37.459 | 11 | |
4 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 32.677 | 2:36.361 | 6 | |
5 | 30 | Rodolfo AVILA | Asia Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 55.89 | 2:40.453 | 12 | |
6 | 27 | Robb HOLLAND | Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 56.665 | 2:39.283 | 14 | |
7 | 98 | Keith CHAN | Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 2:17.210 | 2:50.440 | 18 | |
8 | 21 | Jordi ORIOLA | Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 8 | 2 Laps | 2:34.639 | 5 | |
9 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 7 | 3 Laps | 2:34.587 | 4 | |
R | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV | Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 1 | DNF | N/A | 10 | |
R | 27 | Rob HUFF | West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 1 | |
R | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 0 | DNF | N/A | 2 | |
R | 24 | Kevin GLEASON | West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 7 | |
R | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 9 | |
R | 14 | Josh FILES | Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 | |
R | 28 | Sunny WONG Yat Shing | West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 15 | |
R | 68 | Michael CHOI | Prince Racing Hong Kong | Honda Civic TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 16 | |
R | 49 | Guillame CUNNINGTON | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 0 | DNF | N/A | 17 | |
R | 56 | Samson CHAN | Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 0 | DNF | N/A | 19 | |
R | 29 | Henry HO Wai Kun | PAS Macau Racing Team | Honda Civic TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 21 | |
NS | 73 | James NASH | Proteam Racing | Ford Focus ST TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 20 | |
NS | 50 | Francisco MORA | Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | – | DNS | N/A | 22 | |
NS | 99 | Frank YU | Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León Racer | – | DNS | N/A | 23 | |
NS | 38 | Kenneth LAU | Prince Racing Hong Kong | Honda Civic TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 24 | |
NS | 63 | Sam LOK Chi Kit | Asia Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
NS | 67 | Johnson HUANG | Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
NS | 65 | Douglas KHOO | Niza Racing | SEAT León Racer | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
NS | 76 | Dan WELLS | Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
NS | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | – | DNS | N/A | – | |
NS | 52 | Alain MENU | Top Run Motorsport | Subaru STi TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |