Ruben Volt wins first twilight race at Misano

Ruben Volt made the most of his pole position to win the first TCR Europe race of the weekend at Misano, a race held in twilight conditions.

The ALM Motorsport driver made a strong start to claim the lead while his front row colleague Jacopo Cimenes got a poor getaway and dropped down to fourth behind Jenson Brickley and Santiago Conception.

MA:GP driver Viktor Andersson also made a poor start, dropping from fifth to eighth on the first lap.

A tough fight developed for third place between Honda drivers Conception and Cimenes, as well as Cupra driver Eric Gené.

Cimenes managed to squeeze past Conception for third with 18 minutes left of the race, allowing Gené through to fourth as well.

MM Motorsport driver Marco Butti pitted with a puncture with 14 minutes left of the race as rival Audi drivers Nicolas Taylor and Nicola Baldan were handed five-second penalties for exceeding track limits.

Disaster struck Monlau Motorsport’s Gené on the penultimate lap as he suffered a front-left puncture, dropping him from fourth to 18th place.

Victor Fernández went off into the gravel on the very last lap due to a suspected puncture.

ALM Motorsport’s Volt controlled the race from start to finish, winning with a margin of just below a second over Brickley while Cimenes was two seconds behind in third.

Conception was a distant fourth ahead of Felipe Fernández, Junesung Park, Andersson and Michele Imberti.

Championship leader Jimmy Clairet retired from the race but is still heading the standings on 131 points, while his brother Teddy finished tenth and is second on 115 points. Brickely is third on 105 points and Gené fourth on 102 points.

The second race of the weekend starts at 12:40 CEST on Sunday.