Roberto Colciago of M1RA Motorsport led the Hungarian team to a 1-2 finish at race one at Monza, securing his second victory of the TCR International season.
The Italian started his home race from the front row, behind pole-setter Frédéric Vervisch. The Comtoyou Racing driver could not defend his front row starting spot for long, with Colciago and his team-mate Attila Tassi zooming past before the first corner.
A fair bit of drama unfolded on the first lap, when the usual punting in the narrow turn one chicane forced Mat’o Homola into a spin, blocking the way for Gianni Morbidelli and Stefano Comini. Just one corner farther, Giacomo Altoè went on become the first casualty of the race, as the Italian beached his Volkswagen Golf in the gravel at Curva Grande and had to be towed away by the marshals.
Vervisch meanwhile could not catch a break from his botched start, with a plume of smoke coming out of his right rear bumper after making light contact with the Alfa Romeo of Davit Kajaia. The issue solved itself after a few corners, but the Frenchman spiralled down to ninth place in the meantime.
At the front, Tassi and Pepe Oriola had a scramble for second place, resulting in a small off-track excursion by Tassi, gifting his spot to Oriola for a brief moment of time. The latter then ran into the same issue as Vervisch a few laps earlier, with a small part of debris stuck between his tyre and the rear bumper. Covering the track in a huge cloud of smoke, Tassi was able to retake the place, trailing his M1RA Motorsport team-mate Colciago to a 1-2 finish.
Oriola made a return to the podium once again after his first place in Georgia early in the season. Just 0.150 seconds separated the tin-top veteran from championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay in fourth.
Ferenc Ficza made up a good amount of places after qualifying down in 12th position. The 21-year old driver advanced well through the field to finish in fifth place.
Pole-setter Vervisch on the other hand went backwards after a subpar start and an early collision with Kajaia. He finished the first race of the weekend in sixth.
Race two will take place at 10:50 CEST (09:50 BST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | Roberto COLCIAGO |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 11 | 22:14.954 | 2:00.555 | 2 |
| 2 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 11 | 1.613 | 2:00.561 | 3 |
| 3 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 2.258 | 2:00.371 | 6 |
| 4 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 2.408 | 2:00.527 | 7 |
| 5 | 6 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 5.881 | 2:00.106 | 1 |
| 6 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 8.591 | 2:00.584 | 10 |
| 7 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 11 | 10.686 | 2:00.513 | 5 |
| 8 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 13.338 | 2:00.409 | 8 |
| 9 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 11 | 14.005 | 2:00.580 | 15 |
| 10 | 55 | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zele Racing | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 15.209 | 2:00.355 | 12 |
| 11 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 16.893 | 2:00.971 | 13 |
| 12 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 20.465 | 2:01.361 | 9 |
| 13 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 23.128 | 2:01.758 | 17 |
| 14 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER |  |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 11 | 26.644 | 2:01.418 | 19 |
| 15 | 76 | Daniele CAPPELLARI | |
CRC | SEAT León TCR DSG | 11 | 53.939 | 2:04.600 | 18 |
| 16 | 16 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 9 | 2 Laps | 2:00.693 | 4 |
| 17 | 23 | Pierre-Yves CORTHALS | |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 8 | 3 Laps | 2:02.070 | 16 |
| R | 14 | Jaap VAN LAGEN |  |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 3 | DNF | 2:01.119 | 11 |
| R | 21 | Giacomo ALTOÈ | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 14 |