Diego Moran took victory in the second TCR Asia race at Sepang in Malaysia, as race one winner Luca Engstler crashed out at the mid-distance following contact with Pepe Oriola.
Moran started the race from seventh on the grid but the Ecuadorian driver found himself second after the first sequence of turns, chasing the Hyundai of front-row starter Daniel Miranda.
Reverse grid pole-sitter Roland Hertner had already lost the lead to Miranda at the start, before the German was taken out of the running at the second corner following contact from Teamwork Motorsport’s Alex Hui, which also held up the Hyundai of Theo Coicaud.
At the front that left Moran chasing Miranda, as Hui slotted into third ahead of Oriola.
Moran made his move for the lead on lap six at Turn 4, passing Miranda with a clean move, before going on to build up a comfortable margin to enable the Volkswagen driver to claim his third victory in the series.
Philippines racer Miranda held on to second ahead of Oriola, although the Spaniard had an eventful race which saw contact with Engstler.
Saturday’s race-one winner had been trying for several laps early on to pass Oriola, with the duo making contact on both lap four and five at Turn 1, before events came to a dramatic end on lap seven, as Engstler appeared to move over on Oriola in the braking zone, pitching his Hyundai off into the gravel and out of the race as Oriola continued.
With Oriola holding on to the final podium position, the latter stages of the race saw a fierce battle for fourth which eventually went to Coicaud, the Frenchman staging a strong fightback drive after several incidents in the race.
TCR Thailand champion Jakraphan Davee was fifth in the leading CUPRA, ahead of Malaysian local Adam Khalid in sixth in his Volkswagen.
Viper Niza Racing’s Douglas Khoo was seventh, ahead of the second Solite Indigo Racing Hyundai of Kim Jin Soo in eighth, with the South Korean suffering from a spin on the opening lap when he was hit from behind.
Hui ultimately dropped out of the race on lap six when he dived into the pitlane with a deflated tyre.
Moran’s win means he leads the points after the first weekend, with 42 points, ahead of Coicaud on 34 points and Engstler on 30 points.
The next round of TCR Asia takes place at the Korea International Circuit on 4-5 May.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 23 | Diego MORAN |  |
Volkswagen Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 25:27.461 | 2:16.672 | 7 |
| 2 | 20 | Daniel MIRANDA |  |
Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 3.516 | 2:17.643 | 2 |
| 3 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 12.167 | 2:17.215 | 8 |
| 4 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 17.410 | 2:16.677 | 9 |
| 5 | 33 | Jakraphan DAVEE |  |
AlphaFactory Racing Team by Pulzar | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 22.130 | 2:18.778 | 6 |
| 6 | 4 | Adam KHALID |  |
Volkswagen Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 22.616 | 2:19.025 | 3 |
| 7 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui | |
Viper Niza Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 30.695 | 2:19.473 | 11 |
| 8 | 97 | KIM Jin Soo |  |
Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 31.107 | 2:18.369 | 4 |
| 9 | 3 | Roland HERTNER |  |
Volkswagen Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 41.592 | 2:19.950 | 1 |
| 10 | 30 | GAO Hua Yang |  |
Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 46.693 | 2:20.985 | 14 |
| 11 | 7 | Michael CHOI Koon Ming |  |
Prince Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 46.932 | 2:20.682 | 12 |
| 12 | 36 | David LAU | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:08.566 | 2:22.074 | 13 |
| R | 1 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:17.191 | 10 |
| R | 11 | Alex HUI Ka Tai | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:17.311 | 5 |
| NS | 2 | Kenneth LAU | |
Prince Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |