Photo: TCR World Tour

Norbert Michelisz wins Misano opener as Mikel Azcona lets him past

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Norbert Michelisz won the first FIA TCR World Tour race of 2026 at Misano in Italy as pole man and BRC Hyundai team-mate Mikel Azcona let him past after just two laps.

Azcona made a strong start from pole and headed Michelisz and the trio of Geely Cyan Racing drivers Yann Ehrlacher, Santiago Urrutia and Thed Björk.

But the best start of all was made by Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri who made it up to seventh place from eleventh on the grid by the end of the first lap.

Rival Honda driver Ruben Volt meanwhile got a slow start, dropping down to eighth from sixth on the grid. And things went from bad to worse from the Estonian driver who was forced to pit for repairs on lap nine, dropping down to finish 15th and a lap down on the leaders.

And ALM Motorsport had a tough race as team-mate Jenson Brickley pitted to retire at the end of the first lap due to a technical issue.

Then at the end of lap two, Azcona pulled over at the start/finish straight to let Michelisz past for the lead.

The race was mainly uneventful, it was not until the penultimate lap that a three-car fight for fifth place kicked off between Thed Björk (Geely), Aurélien Comte (Cupra) and Esteban Guerrieri (Honda).

Comte went on the inside of Björk heading into Turn 2 and went high over the curbs which sent his Cupra into a half-spin, instead allowing Guerrieri to try and pass the Frenchman for sixth.

But Comte held onto sixth as Guerrieri had to settle for seventh.

Michelisz won the race by just over a second over team-mate Azcona.

Ehrlacher was about half a second further behind in third, being closely followed by team-mate Urrutia throughout the race.

Björk was a distant fifth ahead of Comte, Guerrieri and Ma Qing Hua. Guerrieri received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits but was far enough ahead of Ma to keep seventh.

Jean-Karl Vernay drove a strong race from 12th on the grid to finish ninth, while Gabriele Covini rounded off the top ten.

Michliesz and Azcona shares the points lead on 40 points each, ten more than Ehrlacher and 14 more than Urrutia.

Azcona set the fastest lap of the race, meaning that he gains one place on the grid for Race 2 from tenth to ninth.

Brickley will start the second race from the reversed grid pole, starting at 11:05 CEST on Sunday.