Home hero Tom Coronel took his first TCR Europe win of the season in the opening race of the weekend at Zandvoort.
Coronel, driving the ComToYou Racing Audi, managed to eventually get the better of pole sitter Jack Young on lap eight after recovering following earlier contact with teammate Nicolas Baert.
Baert, who had made a fine start that saw him in second position in the opening stages of the race, collided with Coronel at the left hand Bochot 10 corner after the Dutch driver had dived up the inside of his teammate.
The Belgian was forced off into the gravel as a result and dropped to fourth position, with Coronel also falling behind the third ComToYou driver Dušan Borkovič as a result.
A lap later Coronel, who had dropped to third, managed to get back ahead of the Serbian driver at turn three, meaning he then had a clear road ahead to chase Young who had led from the start of the race.
The Northern Irishman was also able to make the most of both a fine start as well Coronel, who had lined up second on the grid, appearing to struggle slightly when getting off the start line.
After closing in on him over the next few laps, Coronel finally made his move at Mastersbocht then went on to build up a comfortable margin through the remainder of the race and eventually took the win by 1.817 seconds.
The result means the Dutch driver has now moved up to second in the Drivers Standings and is now just 11 points behind championship leader Mikel Azcona.
One man who had been hoping to continue his title push was reigning champion Mehdi Bennani, however the Sebastien Loeb Racing driver ended the race down in 12th after seemingly having a problem throughout the majority of the race.
Borkovič meanwhile, who ended the race third, managed to survive late pressure from both Sebastien Loeb Racing’s Niels Langeveld and PSS Racing Team’s Franco Girolami, with the pair having managed to get past Baert in the latter stages of the race.
Seventh in the opening round of the weekend was Jimmy Clairet, with Isidro Callejas in the second Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda taking eighth.
Klim Gavrilov, in the VRC-Team Audi and another of the SLR Hyundai drivers Sami Taoufik completed the top ten overall with the pair having a close battle during the last few laps of the race.
Finishing ahead of Bennani in 11th was Viktor Davidovski in another of the PSS Racing Honda’s, while Mat’o Homola in the Janik Motorsport Hyundai, Martin Ryba and Evgenii Leonov rounded out the top 15 positions.
Race two of the weekend is set to take place at Zandvoort on Sunday at 13:10 CEST (12:10 BST).
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 32 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 23:00.161 | 1:44.520 | 2 | |
| 2 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1.817 | 1:44.962 | 1 | |
| 3 | 162 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 8.047 | 1:45.187 | 3 | |
| 4 | 10 | |
Niels LANGEVELD | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 8.333 | 1:45.914 | 9 | |
| 5 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 9.383 | 1:45.753 | 7 | |
| 6 | 8 |  |
Nicolas BAERT | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 13.377 | 1:44.954 | 4 | |
| 7 | 21 |  |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 14.864 | 1:46.023 | 8 | |
| 8 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 18.591 | 1:46.103 | 6 | |
| 9 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | VRC-Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 19.095 | 1:46.422 | 11 | |
| 10 | 25 |  |
Sami TAOUFIK | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 24.537 | 1:46.907 | 10 | |
| 11 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 25.478 | 1:46.876 | 13 | |
| 12 | 250 | |
Mehdi BENNANI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 26.371 | 1:47.063 | 5 | |
| 13 | 70 |  |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 27.060 | 1:46.355 | 14 | |
| 14 | 17 | |
Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 27.935 | 1:46.429 | 16 | |
| 15 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 33.421 | 1:47.097 | 17 | |
| 16 | 20 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 34.350 | 1:47.205 | 21 | |
| 17 | 44 |  |
Felice JELMINI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 37.048 | 1:46.993 | 12 | |
| 18 | 24 | |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 37.449 | 1:47.438 | 18 | |
| 19 | 66 | |
Gilles COLOMBANI | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 39.093 | 1:47.037 | 19 | |
| 20 | 77 | |
Sylvain PUSSIER | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 39.305 | 1:47.474 | 15 | |
| 21 | 11 |  |
Gustav BIRCH | Brian Madsen Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 41.081 | 1:48.000 | 20 |