M1RA’s Dániel Nagy took victory in the opening TCR Europe race at the TT Circuit Assen, passing pole-sitter Jean-Karl Vernay in the first half of the race to claim a maiden win in the series.
At the start Vernay got off to a good start in his Leopard Lukoil Audi, as behind the Frenchman fellow front-row starter Maxime Potty made a poor getaway to immediately succumb to Nagy.
The Hungarian driver then kept the pressure on Vernay in the opening laps, before launching an attack on the fifth tour.
The pair ran side-by-side on the run up to Turn 6, with Nagy clipping the tyres as Vernay slid through the chicane. Nagy then completed the pass for the lead at Turn 8 and was never again headed at the front of the field, despite Vernay closing back up in the final third of the race.
In the end Vernay had to settle for second, two seconds behind the winning Hyundai, to give him his third podium finish of the season.
Target Competition’s Kris Richard took a hard-fought third, having passed KCMG’s Josh Files on the seventh lap with a small amount of contact at Turn 5.
That contact pushed Files’ Honda deep into the corner, and as he exited he held up team-mate Attila Tassi, gifting two positions to the awaiting Honda of Autodis Racing’s Stefano Comini.
The battles allowed Richard to hold on to the final podium position, just the Swiss driver’s second of the season, ahead of Comini in fourth.
Tassi took the chequered flag in fifth, after Files waved him past on the same lap that he inadvertently held up his team-mate.
Target Competition’s Dušan Borković finished in sixth after a determined drive from tenth on the grid, although the Serbian driver had to work hard for his points after dropping two places on the opening lap.
Borković only took sixth after a late pass on Comtoyou Racing’s Maxime Potty on the final lap of the race, slipping up the inside at Turn 2 in a move which appeared to cut a large portion of the corner.
Potty took the finish in seventh, ahead of the leading CUPRA of Stian Paulsen in eighth, who made some limited progress from his grid position.
Paulsen had just two laps earlier got past the Honda of Josh Files, who was slipping backwards as he struggled with his car in the latter stages of the race. Files had to hold a huge slide through Turn 25, allowing Paulsen a run at the start of the next lap, with the CUPRA of Mikel Azcona also slipping past in the process into ninth.
That left Files only able to complete the top ten, having started the race in fourth and after posting the fastest time in qualifying earlier in the day.
The third Target Competition Hyundai of Reece Barr just missed out on the points in 11th after a relatively quiet race free of incident.
Piro Sports’ Peter Terting failed to finish the race after retiring on lap ten with gearbox issues. The only other retirement from the race was the Autodis Racing by THX Honda of Loris Cencetti on lap four, with the Luxembourg driver having earlier been knocked into the gravel at Turn 5 following contact from Azcona on the opening lap. The incident was investigated but no further action was taken.
Race two is scheduled to take place at 11:00 BST on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 999 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 25:08.183 | 1:46.463 | 3 |
| 2 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 2.310 | 1:46.471 | 1 |
| 3 | 94 | Kris RICHARD |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 3.973 | 1:46.738 | 5 |
| 4 | 42 | Stefano COMINI | |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 14 | 5.477 | 1:46.917 | 11 |
| 5 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 14 | 6.146 | 1:46.866 | 6 |
| 6 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 7.863 | 1:46.685 | 10 |
| 7 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 9.135 | 1:47.068 | 2 |
| 8 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 14.979 | 1:47.289 | 9 |
| 9 | 25 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 15.001 | 1:47.179 | 7 |
| 10 | 99 | Josh FILES |  |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 14 | 18.203 | 1:46.608 | 4 |
| 11 | 8 | Reece BARR |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 18.515 | 1:46.982 | 14 |
| 12 | 38 | Danny KROES |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 22.000 | 1:47.664 | 12 |
| 13 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER |  |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 14 | 22.780 | 1:47.586 | 15 |
| 14 | 4 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 25.819 | 1:47.120 | 8 |
| 15 | 23 | Francisco ABREU |  |
Sports & You | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 30.434 | 1:48.168 | 18 |
| 16 | 7 | Igor STEFANOVSKI |  |
Stefanovski Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 32.927 | 1:48.479 | 17 |
| 17 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY | |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 14 | 33.992 | 1:48.145 | 22 |
| 18 | 63 | Giovanni ALTOÈ |  |
Pit Lane Competizioni | Audi RS3 LMS TCR DSG | 14 | 45.205 | 1:49.111 | 20 |
| 19 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR DSG | 14 | 55.221 | 1:49.469 | 21 |
| 20 | 35 | Munkong SATHIENTHIRAKUL |  |
Monlau Competición | CUPRA TCR | 12 | + 2 LAPS | 1:48.274 | 19 |
| 21 | 15 | Peter TERTING |  |
Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | + 4 LAPS | 1:47.635 | 16 |
| R | 14 | Loris CENCETTI |  |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:48.545 | 13 |