Ruben Volt picked up his second win of the season and moves clear into third place on the all-time list of TCR Europe winners, after passing Marco Butti for the lead into Turn 1 and controlling the race to victory.

Butti had a slow getaway from pole position on the grid, which allowed Volt to pull alongside on the way to Turn 1 and take the lead. At Turn 2, Gabriele Covini, Felipe Fernández, and Mike Halder were involved in a skirmish which saw Halder run wide, causing all three to lose track position. Amid the chaos, Tiago Pernía moved up to third in his Squadra Martino Honda Civic, while the action at Turn 2 also helped championship leader Nicolas Taylor climb up to sixth place.

The Canadian driver, however, was struggling for pace in his PMA Motorsport Audi while carrying 30 kg of compensation weight. He soon found himself under attack, first being passed by the high-performing Honda of Victor Chan, who was enjoying his best weekend to date.

Gabriele Covini was running in fourth until lap three, when Butti’s teammate Viktor Andersson dived down the inside at Turn 1 to steal the position. After this, Covini and Chan enjoyed an intense battle for fourth place, swapping positions until Covini was eventually knocked into a slide, forcing him to make a quick pit stop for a new tyre.

The race was suspended behind the safety car when wildcard János Czik stopped at Turn 4 after contact with Victor Fernández. When the race resumed, Volt found himself under heavy pressure from Butti’s CUPRA, but he was able to fend off his Youth Best Trophy rival to hold onto the victory. Taking his eighth win in TCR Europe competition, he is now only two away from joint-record holders Franco Girolami and Mikel Azcona.

Taylor had a difficult end to the race and was slowly bumped down the order despite his excellent start, finishing 11th where he started. With team-mate Nicola Baldan also finishing a relatively lowly 15th, PMA Motorsport’s lead in the teams’ championship is down to 29 points.

Halder managed to recover from his lap one incident to finish fifth, while Chan crossed the line sixth, his career-best finish with the Hong Kong driver now under the tutelage of experienced TCR racer Esteban Guerrieri, and also secured the Tenerife Trophy class victory.

Taylor continues to lead the drivers’ championship, now just 21 points clear of Mike Halder, who moves up to second, with Baldan still third, two points adrift. Ruben Volt now moves into fourth, 27 points down on the leader.

Race 2 is scheduled for 13:00 CEST tomorrow, with Victor Chan starting from pole position ahead of Junui Park’s Hyundai, with title contenders Andersson and Halder on row two.