Pepe Oriola made it two out of two wins in the TCR International Series in Bahrain, taking victory ahead of Craft-Bamboo Racing team-mate James Nash and WestCoast Racing’s Aku Pellinen.
The race was initially led by the WestCoast Racing Honda of Kevin Gleason, who got off to a strong start from third on the grid to jump front row duo Davit Kajaia and Jean-Karl Vernay.
The American’s team-mate Pellinen then slotted into second, with Oriola and Nash following the Volkswagen of third-placed Vernay.
Oriola then passed Vernay, with Nash following suit before the duo sought to pass Pellinen for second.
Spaniard Oriola made his move at the final corner on lap four, with Nash following suit exiting the corner onto the start-finish straight. Superbly the Brit then managed to pass his team-mate into the opening corner, although Oriola would re-take the position at the same place on the following lap.
The pass for the lead then came on lap eight, with Oriola going around the outside of Gleason into turn one to give him the inside into turn two. Nash followed suit on the run up to turn four, but was thereafter unable to challenge Oriola’s lead, giving the Spaniard the honour of being the first driver to win both races in a TCR International Series weekend.
Nash finished in second, with Pellinen in third following a controversial clash between his other two team-mates.
Morbidelli passed team-mate Gleason with contact for third on at turn 13 on lap nine, which later resulted in the early race leader pulling off the circuit with damage.
Then, further around the final lap, Morbidelli developed a front-left puncture on his Civic, resulting in the Italian limping around and taking the chequered flag in ninth position.
The last-lap dramas left Dušan Borković to take fourth for B3 Racing, ahead of Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Kajaia in fifth.
SEAT duo Mat’o Homola and Sergey Afanasyev finished in sixth and seventh for B3 Racing and Craft-Bamboo Lukoil respectively, ahead of the leading Target Competition Opel of Jordi Oriola in eighth.
Top Run Motorsport’s Luigi Ferrara completed the top ten, just missing out on passing the ailing Morbidelli.
Defending champion Stefano Comini had a nightmare race, with the Swiss racer making contact with Engstler Motorsport’s Mikhail Grachev on lap four and retiring from the race with left-rear damage.
The third B3 Racing SEAT León of Attila Tassi once again failed to take the start as a result of his accident in free practice.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 22:36.458 | 2:13.511 | 6 |
| 2 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1.572 | 2:13.791 | 8 |
| 3 | 14 | Aku PELLINEN |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 4.372 | 2:14.503 | 5 |
| 4 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 6.463 | 2:13.897 | 9 |
| 5 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 10.265 | 2:14.870 | 1 |
| 6 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 12.848 | 2:14.698 | 4 |
| 7 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 15.063 | 2:14.620 | 10 |
| 8 | 33 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Target Competition | Opel Astra TCR | 10 | 23.461 | 2:15.776 | 12 |
| 9 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 23.617 | 2:13.511 | 7 |
| 10 | 32 | Luigi FERRARA | |
Top Run Motorsport | Subaru Sti TCR | 10 | 24.851 | 2:16.464 | 16 |
| 11 | 78 | Salman AL KHALIFA |  |
Bas Koeten Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 10 | 31.718 | 2:16.308 | 17 |
| 12 | 79 | Hussain KARIMI | |
Bas Koeten Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 10 | 54.796 | 2:18.661 | 18 |
| 13 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:14.314 | 3 |
| 14 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:15.787 | 14 |
| 15 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 7 | + 3 LAPS | 2:14.481 | 2 |
| R | 88 | Michela CERRUTI | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:16.025 | 15 |
| R | 1 | Stefano Comini |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 1 | DNF | TBC | 11 |
| R | 23 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | Opel Astra TCR | 1 | DNF | TBC | 13 |
| NS | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |