Comtoyou Racing’s Nicola Baldan scored his first TCR win in six years, and his first in TCR Europe, in the opening race at Zolder, comfortably winning ahead of SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte.
In a largely uneventful race, Baldan scored a lights-to-flag win in his Audi, having earlier taken pole position by over four tenths of a second.
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt completed the podium, the Honda driver having fought back past Monlau Motorsport’s Franco Girolami on lap ten with a committed move around the outside of several corners, completing with the line on the inside into the chicane.
Girolami had earlier got the jump on the young Estonian at the start, but after Volt made his decisive move in the final third of the race the Argentine was unable to re-pass and had to settle for fourth.
Girolami’s team-mate Viktor Davidovski was fifth, having made a better start than ALM’s Ignacio Montenegro to assume the place at the start, where he stayed for the remainder of the race.
MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson dropped a place at the start, but the Lynk & Co driver passed Felipe Fernández to reclaim sixth on lap seven, where he stayed to the chequered flag.
Rubén Fernández was ahead of his brother in eighth as the best of the GOAT Racing Hondas, briefly getting ahead of Montenegro three laps from the finish before having to settle for eighth.
Felipe Fernández was ninth, with the top ten completed by ALM’s Levente Losonczy.
Giovanni Scamardi ran briefly in the top in the opening laps, but the SP Compétition CUPRA driver picked up a puncture and had to pit on lap eight.
The Belgian finished the race just behind rookie Santiago Concepción in 12th, a lap down.
Victory for Baldan moves him closer to the championship summit, as he is now third and 17 points adrift of Comte, who leads the points by six points from Girolami.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 CEST on Sunday (11:30 BST).
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Baldan Group by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 23:03.065 | 1:37.440 | 1 | |
| 2 | 7 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 14 | 0.769 | 1:37.792 | 2 | |
| 3 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 5.970 | 1:38.017 | 3 | |
| 4 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 14 | 7.763 | 1:38.013 | 4 | |
| 5 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 14 | 8.471 | 1:38.150 | 7 | |
| 6 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 14 | 10.149 | 1:38.242 | 6 | |
| 7 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 11.406 | 1:38.111 | 5 | |
| 8 | 11 |  |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 11.906 | 1:38.422 | 11 | |
| 9 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 14.047 | 1:38.192 | 9 | |
| 10 | 64 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 14.905 | 1:38.126 | 10 | |
| 11 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 24.695 | 1:38.748 | 12 | |
| 12 | 34 |  |
Giovanni SCAMARDI | SP Compétition | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 13 | + 1 LAP | 1:38.250 | 8 |