Mikel Azcona placed a risky bet on the tyre choice to win a thrilling TCR Europe Race 1 at Spa-Francorchamps. With slicks at the front and wets at the back, the young Spaniard drove like a veteran on a track that was wet, but not completely, recovered from 13^th on the grid up to second, and eventually passed Tom Coronel, who had led from the start, at the end of the penultimate lap.
Mike Halder won the battle for P3 with Andreas Bäckman and John Filippi, scoring crucial points that helped him to stretch his leading margin in the standings.
On the grid, Sami Taoufik was demoted from sixth to the last row because of an engine change, while Nicola Baldan was dropped by two positions to 18^th following a pit lane infringement during Qualifying.
Mehdi Bennani sprinted from the pole, while Filippi and Coronel negotiated the Source hairpin abreast; then Coronel moved ahead into P2 at the Eau Rouge. Behind the top three, Mike Halder, Andreas Bäckman, Daniel Lloyd and Azcona followed. During the first lap Nicolas Baert’s Audi and Jessica Bäckman’s Hyundai tangled and crashed at the chicane. The incident prompted the safety car into action, but seconds before the ‘SC’ panels were shown Coronel stole the lead from Bennani, and Azcona passed Lloyd for P6.
Racing resumed in lap 3, with José Manuel Sapag, Pepe Oriola and Julien Briché fighting for P8. Suddenly, Bennani’s pace faded and he began to lose positions. Filippi, Mike Halder, Azcona and Andreas Bäckman were all able to pass the Audi that dropped to sixth. Further behind, Briché passed Oriola for P8 and put the pressure on Lloyd.
Coronel was able to build a small gap, while Filippi defended the second place from Mike Halder and Azcona was closing in on them.
In lap 5, Briché tried to pass Lloyd at the chicane, they made contact and the Briton retained the seventh position, while Briché began to drop down. Meanwhile, Azcona was the fastest driver on the track and passed Mike Halder and Filippi, moving into P2.
Coronel’s leading margin dropped from three seconds at the end of lap 5, to one second at the beginning of the penultimate lap; Azcona then made his move at the Bus Stop, before the beginning of the final lap, took the lead and ran away. Coronel settled for second, while Mike Halder had passed Filippi in lap 7 to secure the final step on the podium; during the final lap, Andreas Bäckman too moved ahead of Filippi to finish fourth. Bennani retained the sixth place ahead of Taoufik who had managed to pass Lloyd, completing an outstanding recovery from 21^st to seventh. Oriola and Baldan – who also recovered from 18^th to 10^th – rounded off the top ten.
Race 2 is scheduled to start tomorrow at 11:50 CEST; live streaming is at www.tcr-series.com.

Race 1 result
1. Mikel Azcona (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA TCR), 9 laps
2. Tom Coronel (Boutsen Ginion Racing, Honda Civic Type R), 2.037
3. Mike Halder (Profi Car Team Halder, Honda Civic Type R), 8.109
4. Andreas Bäckman (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 11.339
5. John Filippi (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 12.443

Championship points
1. Mike Halder 231 pts; 2. Mehdi Bennani 216; 3. Daniel Lloyd 194

Picture: TCR Europe