Alex Ley dominates safety car-interrupted first Mugello race

Alex Ley dominated the first TCR Europe race of 2026 at Mugello, heading the field from lights to flag despite an early safety car session.

The BRC Racing driver made a perfect start and never looked back while team-mate Gabriele Covini immediately found himself under pressure from rival Hyundai driver Junesung Park who made his way past up into second place before the end of the first lap.

Tiago Pernía’s TCR Europe debut started in the worst possible way as the Squadra Martino driver stalled from third on the grid and dropped down to the very back.

Monlau Motorsport driver Marco Butti had a nightmare start to the race as well when he put a par of wheels outside of the track and spun, dropping several positions from seventh on the grid.

Felipe Fernandez’s was another spinner on the first lap, dropping him down to finish 17th.

The safety car was brought out as Victor Weyric spun off at the end of the first lap and beached his Cupra in the gravel.

Junui Park was another early retirement as the Hyundai driver pitted during the safety car session with a front-left puncture and bodywork damage.

The safety car headed back in with 17 minutes left of the race.

A frantic Monlau Motorsport-fight broke out for eleventh place as Viktor Andersson challenged Adam Shepherd, allowing a recovering Butti to instead pass them both to later finish tenth.

Disaster struck ALM Motorsport driver Ruben Volt who pitted with some kind of technical issue with three minutes left of the race, rejoining down in 20th place after a quick stop at his team garage.

ALM Motorsport team-mate Mike Halder made a mistake during the first part of the race and dropped several places, having started fourth on the grid. But the German driver fought back, passing Audi driver Nicola Baldan for fourth with eight minutes left of the race.

Halder then found himself under pressure from rival Honda driver Max Hart who passed him for fourth on the final lap.

Victor Fernandez went off during the penultimate lap, beaching his Honda firmly in the gravel trap.

Ley controlled the race to win by more than three seconds over Junesung Park while Covini made it three Hyundais in the top three.

Hart came home in fourth ahead of Halder and Baldan. Mikhail Simonov and Nicolas Taylor rounded off the top eight.

The second race of the weekend starts at 11:00 CET on Sunday.