Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua battled past BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami on the last lap of the second FIA TCR World Tour race in Zhuzhou to clinch a victory for Lynk & Co on home soil.
Hyundai’s Girolami had started the reverse-grid race from pole position with GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti alongside, but Ma, from third on the grid, was quickly into second when the lights went out.
Martin Xie was the leading TCR China competitor on the grid in fourth, but the Honda racer again found himself in the wars. GOAT racing’s Esteban Guerrieri dived inside for fourth at Turn 5 but there was slight contact between the duo, and Xie ultimately retired to the pits at the end of the lap with damage to his car.
Guerrieri then took third from team-mate Butti into the Turn 3 hairpin on the next lap, shortly before the safety car was called due to Hu Heng stopping Audi by the side of the track with a broken front-right wheel.
The race then spent six laps behind the safety car as Hu’s car was cumbersomely hauled out of the way with the use of only a forklift truck, before racing resumed on lap nine.
Girolami maintained a lead of just under half a second for much of the second half of the race, with Guerrieri following in a distant third, but on the final lap Ma was closer than ever, just a couple of tenths behind Girolami.
On the final lap, Ma got a slight overlap on Girolami on the run through the fast Turn 4, followed by contact between the duo on the corner exit approaching Turn 5. The pair then ran side-by-side, trading paint and blows, for the next few corners, with Ma ultimately prevailing by the narrowest of margins.
Girolami claimed his second podium of the year as the runner-up, with the podium completed by Cyan’s Yann Ehrlacher after Guerrieri slowed on the final lap with an issue.
Santiago Urrutia, the early weekend pace-setter, battled his way from tenth on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag, including a crucial pass on Hyundai’s Mikel Azcona on lap ten.
Guerrieri limped to fifth, ahead of team-mate Marco Butti in sixth, the latter having had his own boisterous battle with Urrutia at two-thirds distance.
Until being passed by Urrutia, Azcona had been pushing for fifth, but after Urrutia completed his pass at Turns 8 through 10, Azcona fell into the clutches of Volcano Motorsport’s Rob Huff, who took seventh at Turn 4 three laps later.
Huff took the chequered flag in seventh, whilst Azcona immediately then dropped behind team-mate Norbert Michelisz, in an apparent attempt to boost his team-mates points score, as Michelisz finished in eighth.
Azcona was thus classified in ninth, ahead of Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk in tenth. GOAT Racing’s Dušan Borković was the last classified TCR World Tour regular in 11th.
John Filippi retired from the race on lap ten after diving into the pits at the end of the restart lap, his mechanics inspecting the front-left corner of his car intently.
Teamwork Motorsport’s David Zhu was the leading TCR China driver in 12th, ahead of Hyundai’s Martin Cao in 13th.
Points leader Jason Zhang had stalled his Teamwork Lynk & Co on the grid and dropped to last, but he battled back to 16th by the finish, fifth in the TCR China classification, to limit the points lost to title rival Cao.
Michelisz continues to lead the TCR World Tour drivers’ standings on 274 points, ahead of Guerrieri (264), Björk (255), Ehrlacher (251) and Azcona (247).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 155 | WT |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 35:40.167 | 1:45.118 | 3 |
| 2 | 129 | WT |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 0.378 | 1:45.185 | 1 |
| 3 | 168 | WT |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 4.184 | 1:45.729 | 8 |
| 4 | 112 | WT |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 6.987 | 1:45.856 | 10 |
| 5 | 186 | WT | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 7.744 | 1:45.603 | 5 |
| 6 | 199 | WT |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 8.026 | 1:46.112 | 2 |
| 7 | 179 | WT |  |
Rob HUFF | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 8.958 | 1:46.455 | 15 |
| 8 | 105 | WT |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 12.230 | 1:46.858 | 6 |
| 9 | 196 | WT |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 12.617 | 1:45.843 | 7 |
| 10 | 111 | WT |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 18 | 13.085 | 1:46.626 | 9 |
| 11 | 62 | WT |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 13.923 | 1:46.860 | 14 |
| 12 | 9 | CN | |
David ZHU Dai Wei | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 14.368 | 1:46.488 | 11 |
| 13 | 1 | CN | |
Martin CAO Hong Wei | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 16.170 | 1:46.770 | 16 |
| 14 | 3 | CN |  |
Andy YAN Cheuk Wai | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 17.990 | 1:46.757 | 20 |
| 15 | 51 | CN | |
WU Yi Fan | 326 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 20.498 | 1:47.053 | 17 |
| 16 | 36 | CN | |
Jason ZHANG Zhi Qiang | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 20.990 | 1:46.807 | 12 |
| 17 | 12 | CN | |
Sunny WONG Yat Shing | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 22.715 | 1:46.954 | 21 |
| 18 | 2 | CN | |
Rainey HE Xiaole | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 27.706 | 1:47.976 | 18 |
| 19 | 28 | CN | |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 18 | 33.442 | 1:48.058 | 19 |
| 20 | 7 | CN | |
David DENG Bao Wei | MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 33.784 | 1:47.585 | 24 |
| 21 | 27 | CN | |
CHAN Chun Leung | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 34.654 | 1:47.375 | 23 |
| 22 | 52 | CN | |
LAI Jing Wen | 326 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 35.485 | 1:48.174 | 27 |
| 23 | 87 | CN | |
MAN Siu Ming | Evolve Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 40.436 | 1:48.576 | 25 |
| 24 | 37 | CN | |
ZHOU Yun Jie | Spark Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 18 | 41.577 | 1:48.682 | 22 |
| 25 | 26 | CN | |
Tony CHAN Chi Wai | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 43.846 | 1:48.809 | 26 |
| R | 127 | WT | |
John FILIPPI | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | DNF | 1:46.566 | 13 |
| R | 95 | CN | |
HU Heng | GYT Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 1 | DNF | N/A | 28 |
| R | 55 | CN | |
Martin XIE Xin Zhe | MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1 | DNF | N/A | 4 |