Jenson Brickley claims maiden TCR Europe win in Portimão race 2

Monlau Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley made the most of a superb start to take victory in the second TCR Europe race of the weekend at Portimão.

The Cupra León Competición driver started second on the grid but claimed the lead at the first corner and never looked back.

Felipe Fernández provided a stern challenge either side of a safety car intervention in his Auto Club RC2 Valles Honda Civic Type-R but had to settled for second place ahead of MM Motorsport’s Marco Butti, who vaulted from seventh on the grid.

Race one winner Jimmy Clairet also made good ground from 10th on the grid, finishing fifth and consolidating a slender three-point lead over Brickley in the drivers’ standings.

Off the line, Brickley got the jump on reversed grid polesitter Max Hart’s Hyundai and assumed the lead of the race as the field negotiated the first corner.

Further back, Viktor Andersson had a slow getaway and dropped to seventh from third on the grid, as Felipe Fernández claimed third ahead of Teddy Clairet.

Fernández was quickly onto the tail of Hart’s car around the opening lap and made light work of the Irishman at the penultimate corner, diving up the inside to grab second.

Having finished second on the road in Saturday’s opening race before a penalty, Eric Gené was in the wars again, making contact with the rear of Felice Jelmini’s car as the pair disputed ninth place at turn one. The incident delayed Jelmini, who continued, but ended Gené’s race at turn four with damage.

Meanwhile, Brickley continued to lead but his advantage at the head of the field was short-lived as Giacomo Ghermandi’s beached car following contact with Victor Fernández brought out the safety car to bunch the pack up again.

Brickley maintained his lead at the restart – delayed a lap due to Julien Briché hitting trouble at the originally planned restart – with under 10 minutes left with Fernández and Hart in chase behind.

Just like at the start of the race, Junui Park lost position and dropped outside the top 10 after getting smothered up by both Viktor Andersson and Ruben Volt.

As the race entered the closing stages, Marco Butti moved past Hart to claim third in his Honda Civic Type-R to cap off a superb charge through the field from seventh on the grid.

The Italian was engaged in a lively early scrap with Junui Park to run fifth and he made the most of the safety car restart to pass both Teddy Clairet and Hart’s Hyundai to take a deserved final step on the podium.

With Brickley winning comfortably from Fernández and Butti, the action was frantic in the battle for fourth, with Teddy Clairet passing Hart and race one winner Jimmy Clairet maintaining sixth despite getting tagged by Santiago Concepción.

Concepción’s race ended on the final lap with an issue, elevating Jimmy to fifth ahead of Andersson, both of whom also got past Hart.

Volt finished eighth ahead of Nicola Baldan with Aikoa Racing team-mate Filippo Barbieri completing the top 10.