Ruben Volt moved closer to the top of the TCR Europe drivers’ championship table with his second win of the season in race one at spa-Francorchamps, edging out Franco Girolami for the win.
GOAT Racing’s Felipe Fernández Gil had started the race from pole position, having had his earlier-deleted lap time in qualifying reinstated to give him a maiden pole in the series.
At the start, Fernández was slow away from the line which allowed ALM Motorsport’s Volt to challenge for the lead.
Following a good exit from the Turn 1 La Source hairpin, Fernández went side-by-side with Volt through Raidillon and Eau Rouge, before ultimately losing out to Volt along the Kemmel Straight and into Les Combes.
With Volt in the lead, racing had to be neutralised at the end of lap two when contact between Viktor Andersson and Rubén Fernández Gil at the exit of Eau Rouge whilst battling for ninth resulted in Fernández’s car spinning into the barriers.
Racing resumed on lap four, and Volt was able to make a good restart before pulling just under a second clear of Girolami by the chequered flag.
Girolami had earlier taken second from SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte on the opening lap in a copy of Volt’s move on Fernández, before passing Fernández for second into the La Source hairpin at the restart.
Fernández held on to score his second podium of the season in third, comfortably ahead of Comte’s CUPRA in fourth.
ALM’s Ignacio Montenegro took fifth, ahead of a resurgent drive by Comtoyou Racing’s Nicola Baldan in sixth. Baldan had started from last after being caught out by track conditions and the red flag in qualifying, but gained eight places over the race to end the day with a strong result.
MA:GP’s Andersson had been running at the back after his tangle with Fernández earlier on, but Monlau Motorsport’s Eric Gené ultimately finished 13th and last after a mistake at Les Combes on the penultimate lap dropped him out of tenth, with Andersson in 12th.
Race two gets underway at 12:55 CEST on Saturday (11:55 BST).
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 25:00.361 | 2:30.792 | 2 | |
| 2 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 9 | 1.439 | 2:30.640 | 4 | |
| 3 | 19 |  |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 1.954 | 2:31.178 | 1 | |
| 4 | 7 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 9 | 3.525 | 2:31.443 | 3 | |
| 5 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 3.811 | 2:31.205 | 8 | |
| 6 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Baldan Group by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 9.332 | 2:31.715 | 14 | |
| 7 | 34 |  |
Giovanni SCAMARDI | SP Compétition | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 9 | 11.345 | 2:32.290 | 10 | |
| 8 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 9 | 11.690 | 2:32.094 | 11 | |
| 9 | 16 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Baldan Group by Comtoyou | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 9 | 12.821 | 2:32.160 | 13 | |
| 10 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 13.108 | 2:31.934 | 7 | |
| 11 | 64 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 17.313 | 2:32.932 | 9 | |
| 12 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 18.506 | 2:32.851 | 6 | |
| 13 | 21 | |
Eric GENÉ | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA León VZ TCR | 9 | 41.922 | 2:31.939 | 12 | |
| R | 11 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1 | DNF | N/A | 5 |