Mike Halder claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the reverse-grid TCR Europe race at Circuit Paul Ricard, comfortably finishing ahead of Néstor Girolami as Honda cars claimed a 1-2 finish.
At the start Halder assumed the lead ahead of fellow front-row starter Sami Taoufik, who initially looked to have got a better start.
However, Taoufik would later be handed a drive-through penalty for a jump start, dropping the Comtoyou Racing driver out of the top ten.
PSS Racing’s Girolami had started seventh and after a strong start was challenging for a podium on the opening lap, muscling past the Peugeot of Teddy Clairet for what was then third on the second lap.
Girolami then moved up to second when Taoufik served his penalty at the end of lap three, although by this stage Halder had built a two and a half second lead and Girolami was unable to close the gap down.
Halder claimed his second victory in TCR Europe by a margin of just under two seconds from Girolami, whilst Clairet completed the podium over ten seconds back, despite being a cork in the bottle for a train of cars.
Indeed Clairet had to defend heavily from Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman for much of the race, with the Swede trying to pass but unable to find a gap.
Andreas Bäckman had to settle for fourth as the best Hyundai driver, ahead of the leading Audi of Comtoyou Racing’s Mehdi Bennani in fifth.
Race one winner Dan Lloyd claimed sixth in his Brutal Fish Racing Honda, the Brit having spent much of the race in the lower half of the top ten, passing Jessica Bäckman for the position just over two laps from the end.
John Filippi also followed Lloyd past Bäckman for seventh on lap eight, leaving Jessica to finish in eighth after she ran wide at the final turn.
Comtoyou Racing’s Nicolas Baert and BRC Racing’s Dániel Nagy completed the top ten, the latter after passing Julien Briché for the position on the last lap.
Briché should have finished 11th but the Frenchman was given a post-race five-second penalty for multiple track limit infringements, dropping him to 14th.
That meant Brutal Fish Racing’s Pepe Oriola claimed 11th, ahead of BRC Racing’s Mat’o Homola in 12th and Profi Car team Halder’s Michelle Halder in 13th.
After serving his penalty, Moroccan racer Taoufik could only recover to 18th place, outside the points.
The race had just one retirement, with Tom Coronel pitting after just a handful of laps with a technical issue, before returning to the track only to call it a day later in the race.
Jimmy Clairet should have started from sixth on the grid alongside his brother, but the Frenchman pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap with an issue and finished last on the road.
After the first event of the year Lloyd leads the standings with 69 points, ahead of Bennani on 68, Girolami on 66 and Teddy Clairet on 62.
The next TCR Europe event is scheduled to take place at Zolder in Belgium on 11 – 13 September.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 22:26.162 | 2:13.812 | 1 |
| 2 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 1.958 | 2:13.858 | 7 |
| 3 | 20 | Teddy CLAIRET |  |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 11.222 | 2:14.642 | 5 |
| 4 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 11.646 | 2:14.666 | 3 |
| 5 | 250 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 12.345 | 2:14.091 | 9 |
| 6 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 12.815 | 2:14.259 | 8 |
| 7 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 13.129 | 2:13.785 | 10 |
| 8 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 13.552 | 2:14.708 | 4 |
| 9 | 8 | Nicolas BAERT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 16.102 | 2:14.571 | 16 |
| 10 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 17.600 | 2:14.786 | 13 |
| 11 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 19.572 | 2:15.089 | 14 |
| 12 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 20.909 | 2:14.981 | 12 |
| 13 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 21.351 | 2:15.284 | 17 |
| 14 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 24.285 | 2:13.815 | 11 |
| 15 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 24.895 | 2:15.654 | 20 |
| 16 | 16 | Evgenii LEONOV |  |
Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 25.469 | 2:14.965 | 21 |
| 17 | 4 | Florian BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 25.847 | 2:15.206 | 18 |
| 18 | 25 | Sami TAOUFIK | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 27.383 | 2:14.380 | 2 |
| 19 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 27.605 | 2:15.861 | 22 |
| 20 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 31.579 | 2:15.735 | 23 |
| 21 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 36.177 | 2:15.934 | 19 |
| 22 | 6 | Jean Laurent NAVARRO | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 38.759 | 2:15.035 | 24 |
| 23 | 21 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | + 1 LAP | 2:13.838 | 6 |
| R | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:15.172 | 15 |