Marco Butti has won the 2026 TCR Europe drivers’ title, giving Monlau Motorsport a third consecutive drivers’ championship, while Junesung Park claimed his second career victory, just a year after his first at the same circuit in an action-packed season finale.

Nicolas Taylor started the race from pole position in his PMA Motorsport Audi and led the way into Turn 1, while championship leader Marco Butti went around the outside of Junui Park from third to briefly move up to second. After running wide, Butti slipped in behind Junui Park and then made light contact with the ALM Honda of Ruben Volt.

This allowed Junesung Park, in the second Solite Indigo Racing Hyundai, to get a run on Butti and Volt and move up to third, with Volt fourth and Butti shuffled down to sixth behind his Monlau Motorsport team-mate Adam Shepherd.

The two Parks then swapped positions, with Junui Park hampered by 40kg of compensation weight, so he allowed his faster team-mate through.

Junesung Park then quickly closed on race leader Taylor and made his move at Turn 7, with Junui Park following him through into second.

On lap three, as Taylor came back to attack Junui Park at Turn 5, Ruben Volt dived down the inside of the pair to snatch second.

Further around the lap, Butti’s closest rival Mike Halder was forced into the gravel during a battle with one of the BRC Racing Team Hyundais and dropped to the rear of the field, effectively ending his title challenge.

The other key title contender Viktor Andersson’s CUPRA was already in difficulty and soon stopped with an engine issue, leaving Volt and Taylor as the last two drivers who could stop Butti from winning the title. Both needed to win, and for Butti to run into trouble.

Nicola Baldan’s Audi came to a stop at Turn 8 on lap seven, bringing out the safety car, which erased Junesung Park’s near-eight-second lead over Volt. When the race restarted with five minutes to go, however, he was able to pull away comfortably again.

Taylor made a lunge at Turn 1 to try to get back into the podium positions but ran wide. He soon completed a daring move on Shepherd’s CUPRA for fourth. Shepherd was then pushed off into the gravel at Turn 11 by Tiago Pernía’s Honda, with both cars trapped and out of the race.

Taylor finally got back into the top three by passing Junui Park’s Hyundai into Turn 1 with three laps to go, but Butti, who was now holding on to sixth position, just needed to get to the finish line to be confirmed as champion.

Halder, however, was on a critical charge through the field for ALM Motorsport, and although his title hopes were over, ninth place at the finish helped the Estonian team win its second teams’ title.

Nothing could stop Junesung Park out front. He won the third race of the year for the South Korean Solite Indigo Racing team, while Butti was confirmed as champion in his first year with the successful Monlau Motorsport team.

The 2027 season will get under way at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on 21-23 May.