Comtoyou Racing’s led home an Audi 1-2-3 in the opening TCR Europe race at Monza, as championship leader Tom Coronel retired with a puncture two laps from the finish.
At the start, pole-sitter Ruben Volt stalled his Honda, dropping him to the back of the field as Belgian Pauwels moved from second on the grid into the race lead.
His team-mate Nicola Baldan assumed second, with Viktor Davidovski also moving up one place to third at the start – and the lead at the front remained unchanged thereafter, despite a safety car intervention.
The safety car was required when Daniel Tkachenko misjudged the first chicane on lap three, clattering heavily into the Audi of Giacomo Ghermandi, despite the Italian being two places in front.
Both drivers were out on the spot – Tkachenko with significant front-left damage to his car – and the race was neutralised for two laps.
Racing resumed on lap six, with Pauwels managing the gap at the front, with the 18-year-old ultimately going on to record his sixth win of the season to close the points gap to Coronel to just one point.
Coronel was running in fourth for much of the race, before disaster struck the Dutchman at the end of lap ten. His front-left tyre appeared to give up going around the Parabolica, seeing coronel pit and retire from the race, although he was ultimately classified in 11th, two laps down.
Baldan was second – his third successive runner-up finish – ahead of Davidovski, who scored a podium result for the first time this season.
Having dropped to the back of the field, Volt put in a determined drive in his ALM Motorsport Honda, posting the fastest lap of the race and overtaking numerous cars on his way to fourth.
Comtoyou’s John Filippi was fifth, ahead of new team-mate Lewis Brown in sixth, both drivers having lost out to Volt at the first chicane on successive laps at the end of the race.
Aggressive Team Italia’s Giovanni Scamardi was seventh in the best-ranked Hyundai, ahead of the MA:GP Lynk & Co of Viktor Andersson in eighth.
Series newcomer Ivan Peklin and Levente Losonczy completed the top ten in their Audi and Hyundai cars respectively, the latter after his car was repaired following a qualifying shunt on Saturday.
Felice Jelmini failed to start the race after the fuel pump issue he suffered on Saturday.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 22 |  |
Kobe PAUWELS | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 28:23.758 | 1:58.321 | 2 | |
| 2 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 0.469 | 1:58.051 | 3 | |
| 3 | 11 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 0.986 | 1:58.142 | 4 | |
| 4 | 127 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 3.936 | 1:57.340 | 1 | |
| 5 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 4.955 | 1:58.558 | 5 | |
| 6 | 39 |  |
Lewis BROWN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 6.251 | 1:58.661 | 6 | |
| 7 | 84 |  |
Giovanni SCAMARDI | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 10.531 | 1:59.377 | 9 | |
| 8 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 12 | 13.070 | 1:59.105 | 7 | |
| 9 | 29 |  |
Ivan PEKLIN | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 15.184 | 1:58.979 | 11 | |
| 10 | 264 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 15.245 | 1:59.194 | 14 | |
| 11 | 34 | |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | + 2 LAPS | 1:58.332 | 8 | |
| R | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | LEMA Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 2 | DNF | 2:01.145 | 13 | |
| R | 7 | |
Daniel TKACHENKO | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 2 | DNF | 2:01.194 | 12 | |
| NS | 44 | |
Felice JELMINI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | – | DNS | N/A | 10 |