Jimmy Clairet scored a lights-to-flag victory in the opening TCR Europe race of the season at the Autódromo do Algarve in Portugal, despite heavy pressure from Monlau Motorsport’s Eric Gené.
Pole-sitter Clairet made a good start to ease clear of fellow front-row starter Felice Jelmini, and his job was made easier as Jelmini quickly came under pressure from the CUPRA of Gené.
Jelmini then fell off the circuit at Turn 4, bouncing through the gravel and out of the race, although it wasn’t clear if he Had contact with Gené.
By the end of the opening lap, Clairet held a lead of over two-and-a-half seconds from Gené, but the young Spaniard was quick to cut the deficit, posting the fastest lap of the race on the second time around and by lap three he was a second behind.
However, despite getting onto the back of the leading Audi, Gené couldn’t find a way to get close enough to attack and had to settle for second, with Jimmy Clairet winning his second consecutive TCR Europe race by just over half a second.
Jenson Brickley completed the podium behind his Monlau Motorsport team-mate, having gained six places on the opening lap through the melee at Turn 4 when Jelmini went off the circuit.
Teddy Clairet likewise benefitted from the incidents ahead to move up to fourth by the end of the opening lap, where he remained for the duration of the race.
MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson had been fifth early on, but on the second lap the Lynk & Co driver lost three places to Nicolas Taylor, Julien Briché and Nicola Baldan in quick succession.
Whilst he took one place back past the Hyundai of Briché on the final lap, Andersson couldn’t recover the rest, with reigning TCR Italy champion Taylor thus finishing in fifth ahead of fellow Audi racer Baldan in sixth.
Andersson was seventh, with JSB Compétition’s Briché in eighth as the leading Hyundai driver.
The top ten was completed by Solite Indigo Racing’s Junesung Park and Aikoa Racing’s Filippo Barberi.
With two laps to go, Max Hart had looked set for tenth but he was hit by RC2 Racing’s Felipe Fernández, dropping the Irishman three places and allowing Santiago Concepción to benefit by passing both.
However, Concepción himself stopped on the final lap and dropped out, handing tenth to Barberi.
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt had been running in fifth but the young Estonian had to retire from the race after 11 laps, pulling his Honda off at Turn 5.
Indeed it was a challenging race for the Honda cars, as Felipe Fernández was the best-placed of the Civics in 11th, whilst Giacomo Ghermandi failed to take the start when he picked up damage in the pitlane. Marco Butti also retired after just one lap after opening tour dramas.
Race two is scheduled to take place at 11:50 WEST (11:50 BST, 12:50 CEST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 21 |  |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 28:25.974 | 1:52.623 | 1 | |
| 2 | 28 |  |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 0.506 | 1:52.042 | 3 | |
| 3 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 15 | 3.762 | 1:52.642 | 9 | |
| 4 | 20 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 4.292 | 1:52.792 | 6 | |
| 5 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 7.027 | 1:52.617 | 15 | |
| 6 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 14.178 | 1:53.012 | 16 | |
| 7 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 15 | 22.980 | 1:53.126 | 8 | |
| 8 | 4 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 23.089 | 1:52.990 | 12 | |
| 9 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 23.352 | 1:52.948 | 14 | |
| 10 | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 26.866 | 1:53.741 | 18 | |
| 11 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 27.143 | 1:53.452 | 5 | |
| 12 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 27.392 | 1:53.383 | 10 | |
| 13 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 36.299 | 1:54.756 | 19 | |
| 14 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 38.907 | 1:54.675 | 7 | |
| 15 | 6 | |
Jean-Laurent NAVARRO | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 50.051 | 1:55.230 | 21 | |
| 16 | 98 | |
Pierre-Arnaud NAVARRO | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 51.338 | 1:55.453 | 20 | |
| R | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | + 1 LAP | 1:53.411 | 11 | |
| R | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:52.391 | 13 | |
| R | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1 | DNF | 2:48.546 | 4 | |
| R | 44 | |
Felice JELMINI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 1 | DNF | 2:50.815 | 2 | |
| NS | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 17 |