Aurélien Panis secured his first TCR International Series victory in only his second meeting in the championship in Thailand with a lights-to-flag win from the reverse-grid pole position, ahead of M1RA’s Giacomo Altoè.
Panis was unchallenged on his way to a maiden victory, getting a strong start when the lights went out to immediately open up a near one-second lead which the Boutsen-Ginion Racing driver maintained throughout the race.
Altoè took second, his best-ever TCR result, in his first weekend since switching to the M1RA squad, with the Italian having moved into the position with a strong getaway at the start of the race.
Comtoyou Racing’s Stefano Comini was third, having lost out to Altoè at the start, taking his first podium since the Salzburgring in June.
By finishing in fourth, M1Ra’s Attila Tassi has edged out a two-point advantage in the championship standings over Jean-Karl Vernay, who finished fifth. The Leopard Racing driver benefitted on the last lap of the race when M1RA team boss Norbert Michelisz was forced into retirement with white smoke billowing out of his Honda, after running ahead of Vernay for much of the race.
Dušan Borković once again demonstrated strong pace in his GE-Force Alfa Romeo, coming through the field to take sixth after starting from 13th.
James Nash took the chequered flag in seventh, securing the Craft-Bamboo Racing team’s best result of the weekend after another poor race for the outfit also saw Pepe Oriola fail to take the start due to the gearbox issue which saw him retire in race one.
Rob Huff brought the second Leopard Racing Volkswagen home in eighth, having battled hard with DG Sport Compétition’s Mat’o Homola in ninth and WestCoast Racing’s Kantadhee Kusiri in tenth in the latter stages of the race.
Dan Lloyd just missed out on the points in his Craft-Bamboo SEAT and was 11th, ahead of the second Opel of Munkong Sathienthirakul in 12th.
GE-Force’s Davit Kajaia had been running on the edge of the points in 10th half-way through the race, but the Georgian driver slowed to a crawl on lap 11 and retired to the pits with yet another technical issue on his Alfa Romeo.
For the second race in a row it was Chariya Nuya who won the TCR Thailand class in his Billionaire Boys Honda, finishing in 16th ahead of the SEAT of Nattanid Leewattanavaragul.
The race result mean Tassi leaves Buriram with 179 points, ahead of Vernay on 177 and Comini on 165 with just four races left in the season.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 28 | Aurélien PANIS |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 14 LAPS | 1:44.446 | 1 |
| 2 | 21 | Giacomo ALTOÈ |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 1.274 | 1:44.580 | 4 |
| 3 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 6.120 | 1:44.992 | 2 |
| 4 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 7.994 | 1:45.078 | 6 |
| 5 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 9.414 | 1:44.911 | 7 |
| 6 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 14 | 12.632 | 1:44.639 | 13 |
| 7 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 13.369 | 1:44.974 | 9 |
| 8 | 3 | Rob HUFF | |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 13.861 | 1:44.630 | 16 |
| 9 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 14 | 18.084 | 1:45.400 | 10 |
| 10 | 19 | Kantadhee KUSIRI |  |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 18.830 | 1:45.227 | 3 |
| 11 | 17 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 20.555 | 1:45.618 | 14 |
| 12 | 67 | Munkong SATHIENTHIRAKUL | |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 14 | 21.357 | 1:45.540 | 17 |
| 13 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 22.946 | 1:45.885 | 11 |
| 14 | 6 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 30.660 | 1:45.944 | 15 |
| 15 | 18 | Duncan ENDE |  |
Icarus Motorsports | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 31.425 | 1:45.674 | 18 |
| 16 | 85 | Chariya NUYA | |
Billionaire Boys Racing | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 35.585 | 1:46.390 | 19 |
| 17 | 96 | Nattanid LEEWATTANAVARAGUL | |
Morin Racing Team | SEAT León TCR DSG | 14 | 36.363 | 1:46.645 | 20 |
| 18 | 84 | Pasarit PROMSOMBAT | |
RMI Racing Team by Sunoco | SEAT León TCR DSG | 14 | 48.076 | 1:46.315 | 21 |
| 19 | 83 | Rattanin LEENUTAPHONG | |
Yontrakit Racing Team | SEAT León TCR DSG | 14 | 49.369 | 1:47.191 | 22 |
| 20 | 86 | Nattachak HANJITKASEN | |
TBN MK Ihere Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 14 | 54.333 | 1:46.444 | 23 |
| 21 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui |  |
Viper Niza Racing | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 1:38.064 | 1:50.474 | 24 |
| R | 59 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 13 | DNF | 1:45.056 | 8 |
| R | 16 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:44.902 | 12 |
| NS | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | – | DNS | N/A | 5 |