Josh Files took a great victory in Race 1 in the Target Competition Honda Civic; the Briton pipped pole sitter Gabriele Tarquini at the start and led from lights-to-flag. Tarquini was chasing him for most of the race, even knocking on the Honda’s rear bumper, but in the final laps the Hyundai driver lost contact from the leader and had to defend the second position from Files’ teammate Giacomo Altoè.
“I had a fantastic car. I took a great start and was able to keep Tarquini at bay. The old guy is still very quick and tough! He also hit me a few times,”said Files.
Aurélien Comte drove his Peugeot 308 home in fourth place, ahead of Antti Buri’s Audi that was closely followed by Maxime Potty’s Volkswagen Golf.
Luigi Ferrara kept the fourth position in the first half of the race in the V-Action Alfa Romeo Giulietta, but he was dropped by a drive-through penalty. “I don’t understand it, actually I was hit by Buri and sent wide,” complained the Italian.
Luca Engstler’s hope vanished because of a shifting problem that prevented him from taking a good start and eventually forced him back to the pits.
Giovanni Altoè won the DSG class in his Volkswagen Golf ahead of Sandro Pelatti in a similar car.
Race 2 will start at 14:35 local time, with Florian Thoma on pole position on the top-ten reverse grid (live streaming at www.europe.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv).

Key facts
Grid – Kevin Giacon’s Opel Astra is missing following a turbocharger failure
Start – Files sprints to the lead ahead of Tarquini, Giacomo Altoè and Ferrara; Engstler and Kralev take a bad start
Lap 1 – Grigoriev is punted into a spin; Comte overtakes Buri for fifth
Lap 3 – Tarquini is chasing Files
Lap 4 – Giovanni Altoè overtakes Tolkachev for the lead of the DSG class
Lap 5 – Tarquini posts the fastest lap of 1:20.367
Lap 6 – Abreu overtakes Engstler for 9^th; Pelatti overtakes Tolkachev for 2^nd of DSG
Lap 7 – Giovanni Altoè overtakes Engstler for 10^th
Lap 9 – Ferrara who was 4^th, observes a drive-through for trespassing the track limits at Turn 2 and rejoins in 11^th position
Lap 11 – Giovanni Altoè and Abreu swap positions while fightin for 8^th
Lap 12 – Engstler slows down and pits
Lap 13 – Cappellari pits with a flat tyre
Lap 14 – Ferrara overtakes Abreu for 9^th
Lap 15 – Dionisio overtakes Kralev for 13^th
Lap 16 – Pelatti overtakes Abreu for 10^th
Lap 17 – Files pulls away from Tarquini and Giacomo Altoè
Lap 18 – Abreu goes straight on T3 and then observes a drive-through for track limits
Lap 19 – Kangas and Tolkachev make contact but continue
Lap 20 – Files wins from Tarquini and Giacomo Altoè; Comte finishes fourth; Giovanni Altoè ranks 8^th overall and wins the DSG class; Kangas hits Tolkachev who spins and drops to 14^th