Marco Butti shot from fifth to first on the opening lap of an action-packed and incident-filled first race at Spa-Francorchamps, while there was trouble for the top two drivers in the championship heading into the race, with problems befalling Jimmy Clairet and Jenson Brickley.

Felipe Fernández started from pole position and led the way into La Source, but his team-mate Santiago Concepción had a better run around the outside and took the lead on the way to Eau Rouge, while a slow-starting Ruben Volt had dropped to fifth behind the Hyundai of Junesung Park and the MM Motorsport Honda of Butti.

Park was lining up a move on the way to Les Combes on Concepción, but it was a late breaking dive from Butti that saw him almost come all the way through into the lead at the corner. The Italian settled in behind Concepción after going side-by-side through the turn. Butti finally completed the move for the lead at the Bus Stop corner at the end of the lap, going on to lead the entire race to claim his first TCR Europe victory.

Other drivers on the move, after a difficult qualifying session, included both Monlau Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley and the PMA Motorsport of Nicolas Taylor, who were soon inside the top ten despite starting 16th and 14th respectively. 

On lap three, third-placed Park lost positions after some contact in a battle with the two Hondas of Volt and Fernández, with his rear-right tyre rubbing on the bodywork, and he fell to fifth place.

Park was now under attack from Jimmy Clairet’s Audi, but the French driver had a trip to the gravel after he hit the rear of Park’s Elantra, and dropped to the back of the points-scoring positions.

Volt then stopped at Bruxelles on lap four with an unknown issue, causing the first of two safety car deployments. When the race resumed, Park, whose tyre rubbing issue had now gone away, attacked Fernández at La Source and retook third place, with Eric Gené’s Monlau CUPRA following him through into fourth position.

Teddy Clairet meanwhile was battling through and took both Nicolas Taylor’s Audi and then Fernández’s Honda for fifth with a daring run through Eau Rouge, before the safety car was called again after Jenson Brickley’s CUPRA stopped on the way up Eau Rouge behind them with a front-right tyre problem.

A final safety car saw the race resume with a one-lap dash to the chequered flag, with Butti holding onto the victory, while Concepcíon lost second place to Park’s Hyundai at the final corner, but all three drivers scored their best results in the series to-date.

Fernández lost seventh place, and the Diamond Trophy class win to Nicola Baldan on the final lap after the AIKOA Racing driver got ahead of him at Les Combes.

With a mixed race for the championship front-runners, Jimmy Clairet still leads the standings but by just one point over his brother Teddy, while Butti is now third in the standings after his victory, five points behind.

The next race is scheduled for 17:25 CEST today, with Viktor Andersson starting from pole position.