WestCoast Racing’s Kevin Gleason took victory in the second TCR International Series race in Sepang, which saw both title contenders Stefano Comini and Pepe Oriola fail to score.
A lengthy delay came before the start of the race when the FRD Motorsports Ford Focus of Nicky Pastorelli suffered an engine blow-up leaving the grid, dumping a significant quantity of oil on the first three rows of the right-hand side of the grid.
As a result, it was decided to start the race behind the safety car, with a significant quantity of absorbent dust having to be laid on the starting grid, to offer no disadvantage to those drivers starting on the right-hand side of the grid.
When the race got underway, it was Team Thailand’s Tin Sritrai who led for the opening first few laps, whilst further back Leopard Racing’s Stefano Comini started a charge from fifth on the grid to be up to third by the end of lap three.
Gleason took the lead from Sritrai at the front at the Turn 9 hairpin on lap four with a clean move that laid the foundations for this third win in the championship.
A pivotal moment then came on lap four, when Comini tapped Sritrai off the circuit at Turn 14, dropping the Thai racer down the order and ultimately earning Comini a drive-through penalty, which would be applied at the race end to drop him to a lowly 18th position.
The demise of Sritrai and Comini’s penalty ultimately handed Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash second position, after the Brit drove a clean race. Crucially, Nash has now extended his championship lead, as late in the race his team-mate Pepe Oriola tangled with B3 Racing’s Mat’o Homola twice on the final lap, dropping him out of sixth and outside the points positions.
WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli took third in a quiet race for the Italian, whilst Dušan Borković was fourth after benefitting from team-mate Homola’s tangles.
Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay was fifth, after a mixed race for the Frenchman that saw him run very deep into Turn with three laps to go and lose two places.
Loris Hezemans brought his Target Competition SEAT home in sixth to score his best result of the season, ahead of Homola in seventh, who lost three places on the final lap.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev took eighth, ahead of new TCR Asia Series champion Andy Yan in ninth and the third B3 Racing SEAT of Attila Tassi in tenth.
A brief safety car period was required after seven laps due to controversial contact between Mikhail Grachev and Roberto Colciago, who had been running in eighth and ninth respectively at the time. As Colciago tried to pass Grachev at the Turn 9 hairpin, with a light tap, the WestCoast Racing driver then came over on Colciago exiting the corner, with the resulting contact pitching Colciago into the gravel and breaking Grachev’s suspension.
Nash now leads the drivers’ championship standings by 17 points ahead of Comini, with Oriola a further 16 points adrift.
The season finale of the championship takes place in Macau on 17 – 20 November 2016.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 24:37.307 | 2:17.558 | 2 |
| 2 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1.735 | 2:17.604 | 3 |
| 3 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 2.421 | 2:17.563 | 4 |
| 4 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 7.961 | 2:17.690 | 11 |
| 5 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 9.853 | 2:17.580 | 7 |
| 6 | 50 | Loris HEZEMANS |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 10.241 | 2:17.390 | 14 |
| 7 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 10.513 | 2:17.595 | 6 |
| 8 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 10.850 | 2:18.035 | 12 |
| 9 | 3 | Andy YAN Cheuk Wai |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 10.860 | 2:18.434 | 15 |
| 10 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 11.125 | 2:17.727 | 13 |
| 11 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 11.800 | 2:18.418 | 16 |
| 12 | 28 | Kevin TSE Wing Kin |  |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 13.714 | 2:19.297 | 17 |
| 13 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 14.753 | 2:17.985 | 9 |
| 14 | 83 | Tin SRITRAI |  |
Team Thailand | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 15.046 | 2:18.332 | 1 |
| 15 | 20 | Mario FERRARIS | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 10 | 15.404 | 2:19.883 | 20 |
| 16 | 68 | Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 16.510 | 2:19.266 | 18 |
| 17 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui |  |
Viper Niza Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 10 | 24.595 | 2:21.573 | 22 |
| 18 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 31.214 | 2:17.196 | 5 |
| 19 | 27 | Bill O’BRIEN | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 36.238 | 2:22.675 | 21 |
| 20 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | |
Target Competition | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 46.183 | 2:22.975 | 23 |
| R | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:18.211 | 8 |
| NS | 5 | Roberto COLCIAGO | |
Target Competition | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | DNF | 2:17.780 | 10 |
| NS | 72 | Nicky PASTORELLI | |
FRD Racing Team | Ford Focus TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 19 |