Photo: FIA TCR World Tour

Ma Qing Hua fights to debut win for new Geely Preface TCR

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Ma Qing Hua fought his way to claim the first win for the new Geely Preface TCR of Cyan Racing in the second, reversed-grid race of the FIA TCR World Tour season opener at Misano in Italy.

ALM Motorsport driver Jenson Brickley started from the reversed grid pole and headed the field as the lights went out.

Ma got a slow getaway initially from third but still managed to get ahead of an even slower-starting Gabriele Covini into second place heading into Turn 1.

BRC Hyundai driver Mikel Azcona made a lightning start from ninth on the grid to fifth place before the end of the first lap.

Ma quickly put hard pressure on Brickley in the fight for the lead, getting past at the end of lap two, only for the Honda driver to repass, allowing Ruben Volt to pass Ma for second.

Disaster struck Race 1 winner Norbert Michelisz on lap three as he got a puncture on his Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR, coming to a halt by the side of the track.

Ma made his way back past Volt for second place on lap four, setting his sights on Brickley once again.

And the Geely Cyan Racing driver made the move stick for the lead on lap six as Brickley fell into the clutches of the charging field behind him.

Azcona was first to pass Brickley for second place on lap seven, with Thed Björk following suit a couple of corners later for third place and then Cupra driver Aurélien Comte for fourth another couple of corners later.

Monlau Motorsport driver Viktor Andersson’s dreadful weekend continued as the Cupra driver came to a halt at the exit of Turn 2 on lap eight.

Reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher managed to pass Brickley for fifth place on lap eight.

Teddy Clairet was hit with a front-left puncture on the penultimate lap, dropping him down to 16th place.

Björk gained quickly on Azcona in the final stage of the race in the fight for second place. The Swede made a brief attempt on the final lap but could not get past.

Ma won the race by just under one second ahead of Azcona and Björk.

Comte came home in fourth for SP Compétition ahead of Ehrlacher and Santiago Urrutia.

Esteban Guerrieri fought his way from eleventh on the grid to finish seventh while pole-sitter Brickley dropped down to finish eighth.

Azcona heads the drivers’ standings on 65 points, 17 more than Ehrlacher and 21 more than Björk.

The next FIA TCR World Tour race takes place at Valencia in Spain on June 13-14.