Aurélien Comte and Franco Girolami are tied at the top of the drivers’ table after Zolder, with Comte battling back from an incident at the start of the race to score what could be critical points with fifth in his SP Compétition CUPRA, after he was run off circuit after a multi-car incident on the first lap.

A chain reaction at the Villeneuve chicane saw Comte forced off track by the recovering CUPRA of Viktor Davidovski, who in turn had been hit by the sliding Honda of Felipe Fernández, who’d made contact with Comte’s own team-mate Giovanni Scamardi as he overtook him for the lead.

The incident saw Comte fall all the way down to last place, but was able to recover ground during the race to get back up to fifth at the finish, passing two corners in one corner when he got ahead of both Viktor Andersson’s MA:GP Lynk & Co and the Audi RS 3 LMS of Nicola Baldan.

Comte’s toughest battle was with the ALM Motorsport Honda of 2023 TCR South America champion Ignacio Montenegro, but he was able to get past him on lap 14 at Turn 1, before closing on the identical Honda of Felipe Fernández, but was unable to get past.

The points for fifth see Comte now tied on the top of the standings with Girolami on 146 points.

“I had a problem on the first lap, I think Davidovski pushed me out at the start,” said Comte. “In the final order we only finished the race P5, it could have been higher. I tried to pass in many places, but it’s very difficult to pass here.”

TCR Europe now heads to the Salzburgring, where Comte is one of the few drivers in the series with previous experience of the fast Austrian circuit, having won a race in his class there in a SEAT in the 2013 FIA European Touring Car Cup.