Alex Ley claimed victory in the opening race of the 2026 TCR Europe series season, leading from lights-to-flag while battles raged behind him. Junesung Park fought his way from fifth to second on the opening lap, while Ley’s BRC Racing Team team-mate, Gabriele Covini, completed the podium.

Ley got the perfect start from pole ahead of Covini. Behind them, Tiago Pernía’s Honda stalled from third place but was safely avoided by the 21 cars behind him.

This allowed Junesung Park to move up to third into Turn 1. Meanwhile, Nicola Baldan overtook Mike Halder’s Honda on the run to the first corner and was soon joined by his fast-starting team-mate, Nicolas Taylor, who had surged to fifth from tenth on the grid.

Another fast-starter was Mikhail Simonov, who climbed to sixth from 13th. As the drivers exited Turn 3, Marco Butti went wide in his CUPRA, spun into the barriers, and fell to last; however, he was able to recover to finish the race in tenth position.

The race was soon neutralised by a safety car after Victor Weyrich’s CUPRA and Junui Park’s Hyundai collided at Turn 8. The incident left Weyrich stranded in the gravel, while Park returned to the pit lane with terminal damage to his front left.

Up front, Junesung Park overtook Covini down the inside into Turn 12 to take the lead just before the pack reached the safety car.

When the race resumed on lap four, Taylor began to lose ground. He was passed by Simonov’s CUPRA and then the ALM Motorsport Hondas, with Halder recovering from his poor start and team-mates Max Hart and Ruben Volt climbing from their difficult 11th and 12th place qualifying positions.

Hart briefly moved ahead of Halder at the end of the lap before Halder retook the position. Halder then continued his charge, passing Simonov and Baldan to reclaim fourth.

On the penultimate lap, Baldan tried to dive back past Halder into Turn 1 but ran wide, allowing Hart through into fifth. Hart then re-passed team-mate Halder at the start of the following lap and began to pressure the third-placed Covini. He ultimately had to settle for fourth, as he was unable to make a move while Victor Fernández’s Honda was stopped at Turn 15, bringing out double waved yellow flags.

Ley won the race by 3.2 seconds after leading by as much as five seconds over Park, with Covini completing the podium.

Hart and Halder finished right behind the leading trio. Further back, Sandro Pelatti picked up the victory in the Diamond Trophy class, finishing 15th overall in his PMA Motorsport CUPRA.

Ley now leads the standings going into tomorrow’s second race, where Nicolas Taylor will start from pole position at 11:00 CET.