Norbert Michelisz, driving a BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Elantra, made TCR history when he won the first-ever round of the KUMHO TCR World Tour at the Autodromo do Algarve in Portimão. Michelisz took a lights-to-flag victory from his teammate Mikel Azcona, while Rob Huff completed the podium places. In TCR Europe, John Filippi took maximum points from the race, with Kobe Pauwels and Tom Coronel giving Comtoyou Audi RS 3 LMS cars a clean sweep of the podium places.

Pole-sitter Michelisz made a good start and led the field into Turn 1, followed closely by Azcona, Huff and Frédéric Vervisch. Behind the leaders, Yann Ehrlacher appeared to make contact with his Cyan Racing Lynk & Co teammate Santiago Urrutia going into Turn 2, which sent the Uruguayan driver into the rear of Tom Coronel’s Audi, causing it to half-spin. The Dutch driver lost several places and dropped out of the TCR Europe lead as a result. Urrutia limped back to the pits to become the year’s first retirement.

The incident meant Kobe Pauwels now led the TCR Europe field, with the recovering Coronel passing John Filippi for tenth place overall and P2 in TCR Europe at the start of Lap 3. On the next lap, the MA:GP Lynk & Co 03 of Viktor Andersson made contact with the Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N of Dušan Borković as the Swedish driver made a passing move for P13.

The next lap then saw the TCR Europe lead change hands as Filippi passed both Coronel and then Pauwels to lie in ninth place overall. More importantly for the French driver, with the TCR World Tour competitors effectively ‘invisible’ in TCR Europe, he was now on course to take maximum points in the Drivers’ championship from the season’s opening race. Further down the order, there was contact between the Aggressive Team Italia Hyundai Elantra N of Mikael Karlsson and Lewis Brown’s Volcano Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS.

There was a three-way contact on Lap 8 involving Felipe Fernández, Viktor Andersson and Isaac Smith as the trio tried to squeeze through Turn 4 three-abreast, although all three continued. There was then contact on the next lap between Andersson and Lewis Brown, but the Swede wasn’t so lucky on this occasion and had to head into the pits as a result.

Much of the race was fairly processional, with no changes of position among the leaders. It did look for a time as though the final few laps would deliver some dramas, with the ALM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FL5 of Néstor Girolami closing up on the Audi of Frédéric Vervisch for P4 overall and Coronel threatening Pauwels for P2 in TCR Europe, but in the end neither battle delivered a change in position.

The only change in the race’s closing stages was on the last lap when Borković passed Viktor Davidovski for P4 in TCR Europe. There were no other changes and so the race result saw the top six finish in the order in which they started. Michelisz and Azcona scored a 1-2 for Hyundai, while Huff and Vervisch finished third and fourth for Team Audi Sport Comtoyou and Girolami brought home the new Honda in P5 ahead of Ma Qing Hua’s Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03.

In TCR Europe, Filippi took the maximum 40 points from the race and so moved into a 3 point lead in the Drivers’ championship over Pauwels, who held off Coronel to finish second. Borković was fourth and Davidovski fifth. Pauwels also finished as the highest-placed Rookie ahead of Isaac Smith and Ben Bargwanna.

Norbert Michelisz (race winner): “It’s always a fantastic feeling to start a new era and a new season like this, so I couldn’t be more happy. My car was working great in Qualifying and now in the race. The start wasn’t so easy as the lights went out super-quick so I wasn’t prepared, but it seemed to take everyone else by surprise as well. In the end, I knew that if I could stay in front then half the job was done. I took a conservative approach with the track limits and I took care over the first couple of laps with the left front (tyre) and then when I was settled in I started to push. Fortunately the car and the tyre survived the race and so I’m very happy. You could see that we are really evenly matched and overtaking is very difficult. I’ll try to have a good start in Race 2 tomorrow and I’ll try to stay out of trouble in the first few corners. I will push 100% but it’s impossible to tell if that’s enough to stay in tenth or to finish fifth or to win the race, but my aim is to get on the podium.”

Race result

1. Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N) 12 laps

2. Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N)  +0.705

3. Rob Huff (Audi Sport Team Comtoyou, Audi RS 3 LMS) +1.710

4. Frédéric Vervisch (Audi Sport Team Comtoyou, Audi RS 3 LMS)  +4.458

5. Néstor Girolami (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5)  +4.859

TCR Europe result

1. John Filippi (Comtoyou, Audi RS 3 LMS) 12 laps

2. Kobe Pauwels (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)  +4.973

3. Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)  +6.283

4. Dušan Borković (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N)  +8.653

5. Viktor Davidovski (Comtoyou, Audi RS 3 LMS)  +9.156

Race 2 is scheduled for 11.30 local time on Sunday and will be streamed live on tcr-series.tv