Photo: TCR Europe

Eric Gené takes maiden TCR Europe victory and points lead at Red Bull Ring

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Eric Gené moved into the TCR Europe Series points lead with victory in race one at the Red Bull Ring, which was restarted after a multi-car crash on the opening lap.

From pole position, the Monlau Motorsport Cupra León Competición driver held onto his advantage either side of a lengthy red flag to head home Nicolas Taylor, with Marco Butti completing the podium.

Erstwhile points leader Teddy Clairet had a disappointing race from 15th on the grid, finishing a lowly 12th while brother Jimmy Clairet was sixth.

Polesitter Gené got a strong start and fended off an early attack from Nicolas Taylor on the run towards turn two for the first time, with Marco Butti hanging onto third place.

The race was then red flagged on the opening lap after a nasty multi-car accident in the pack took out Sandro Pelatti (PMA Motorsport Audi), Filippo Barberi (Aikoa Racing Audi), Felipe Fernández (Auto Club RC2 Valle Honda), Junui Park (Solite Indigo Racing Hyundai) and Jacopo Cimenes (MM Motorsport Honda).

While disputing sixth place, contact was made between Cimenes and Jenson Brickley, with the former spearing across the track and being collected by Fernández. Barberi then rammed into the rear of Park in the melee.

After a lengthy delay, the race was eventually restarted behind the safety car with Gené leading away.

Behind, Taylor came under pressure from Butti, with Baldan and Brickley also in the mix.

The top three then broke clear of Baldan with Taylor closing to within seven-tenths of a second heading into the final stages, and Butti just another three-tenths behind in third.

Butti arguably had the faster car inside the final 10 minutes and began to put Taylor under increasing pressure, which allowed Gené to extend his margin to over a second.

A slight mistake from Butti enabled Taylor to stretch further ahead but Gené was already clear and duly cruised to victory by 1.643s

Off the podium, Baldan edged clear of Brickley to consolidate fourth place at the finish, with Jimmy Clairet sixth, profiting from a track limits penalty for René Kircher.

Max Hart had a relatively quiet race to eighth, ahead of Viktor Andersson with Junesung Park completing the top 10.

Race two at the Red Bull Ring will tkae place tomorrow at 11:35 CEST.