Target Competition’s Mat’o Homola converted his pole position into a victory to become the first winner of the 2019 TCR Europe Series. The young Slovak was followed by his teammate Josh Files, while Nelson Panciatici of M Racing finished third, completing a Hyundai 1-2-3.
Julien Briché was the best of the rest, as he was classified fourth in his JSB Compétition Peugeot 308; the Frenchman managed to keep Dušan Borković and Dániel Nagy at bay during the final laps.
However, after the race, Briché was excluded because his car was underweight.
The second race will start at 14:30 ; live streaming at www.tcr-series.tv.

Key facts
Grid – Engstler starts last after the M1RA crew repaired his car following yesterday’s crash
Start – Homola sprints from the pole ahead of Files and Briché; Bihel stalls and is hit by Potty
Lap 1 – Andreas Bäckman and Urrutia make contact at T3, the latter goes off; Comte moves up to 5^th after starting from 14^th
Lap 2 – Bihel and Potty pit for repairs
Lap 3 – Briché threatens Files’ second place
Lap 4 – there is a close fight for 2^nd between Files, Briché and Panciatici
Lap 5 – Boković passes Comte for 5^th
Lap 6 – Nagy overtakes Comte for 6^th
Lap 7 – Magnus overtakes Comte for 7^th; Morbidelli overtakes Luca Filippi for 9^th
Lap 8 – Panciatici overtakes Briché for 3^rd; Jessica Bäckman overtakes Luca Filippi for 10^th after they made contact
Lap 9 – Potty (who has retired) and Lémeret are given a drive-through for a jump-start
Lap 10 – Luca Filippi, Andreas Bäckman and Teddy Clairet have a tough fight for 11^th
Lap 11 – Andreas Bäckman overtakes Luca Filippi for 11^th
Lap 12 – Files closes in on Homola
Lap 13 – Homola wins from Files and Panciatici; Ryba tops the TCR Eastern Europe in 17^th position overall

Race 1
1. Mat’o Homola (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 13 laps
2. Josh Files  (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 0.444
3. Nelson Panciatici (M Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 1.394
4. Dušan Borković (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 6.319
5. Dániel Nagy (M1RA Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 7.951

Championship points
1. Homola 45 pts; 2. Files 37; 3. Panciatici 33