After the season-opening event at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Viktor Davidovski leads the TCR Europe Diamond Trophy thanks to class wins in both races netting him a perfect score of 50 points from the weekend. Martin Ryba is in second place in the standings with 33 points while Giacomo Ghermandi is just six points behind Ryba in third position.

Having switched to a Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR for the 2022 season, Davidovski immediately seemed at home with his new car. He qualified as the best of the Diamond Trophy contenders, starting both races from P16 ahead of Evgenii Leonov (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), Ryba (Brutal Fish Racing, Honda Civic Type R) and Ghermandi (Lema Racing, CUPRA Leon Competición).

In Race 1, Davidovski made a good start and battled with Mat’o Homola for much of the race, with the Macedonian driver eventually finishing thirteenth overall and claiming the 25 points for being the highest-placed Diamond Trophy driver. Leonov finished second in class, picking up 18 points in the process. Early in the race, The Honda of Ryba and Felice Jelmini’s Hyundai made contact, with both drivers dropping to the back of the field. Ryba then had to take avoiding action to avoid hitting Ghermandi’s CUPRA when the Italian driver half-spun on Lap 5, with Ryba later catching and passing Ghermandi to finish third in the Diamond Trophy.

Race 2 then saw Leonov involved in an incident with Homola’s Hyundai after only a couple of corners on the opening lap. Homola limped back to the pits, but Leonov’s CUPRA was stranded out on track. On the next lap, Ghermandi was involved in a similar incident with Leonov’s teammate, the Rookie driver Gustavo Moura Jr. Again, the Volcano Motorsport CUPRA was left stranded while Ghermandi was more fortunate and could continue. The Safety Car was deployed for two laps while the cars and the debris left on track could be cleared. Davidovski again finished as the best of the Diamond Trophy entrants in 11^th place overall, with Ryba’s Honda finishing two places behind the Audi. Ghermandi finished third in class, while Leonov recorded a DNF after the incident on Lap 1.

The result means Comtoyou Racing now leads both the TCR Europe Drivers’ standings, with Franco Girolami nine points clear of Halder Motorsport’s Jack Young, and Davidovski the early leader of the Diamond Trophy.