Felipe Fernández keeps his cool to take maiden TCR victory at Spa

Felipe Fernández converted pole position into his first-ever TCR Europe Series victory in the opening race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Spanish driver, at the wheel of his Auto Club RC2 Valles Honda Civic Type-R got off the line well and controlled the 25-minute plus one lap race from start to finish.

Viktor Andersson fended off race-long attacks from Mike Halder to claim second place, with Halder slipping to the final step on the podium behind Marco Butti on the final lap.

From pole position, Fernández got a solid getaway and maintained his lead as the field negotiated the opening lap, with Andersson getting the better of Halder at La Source.

Behind, Ruben Volt appeared to jump the start but avoided a penalty which allowed him to run fourth early on.

As Fernández attempted to skip away at the front, the battle for second place intensified as Halder dived down the inside of Andersson at the Bus Stop chicane. Andersson held onto the place as the pair went side-by-side which brought Volt and Butti into the mix.

Despite the quartet duking it out for second, Fernández was unable to break clear in the lead of the race, holding a slender one-second margin as the race approached its halfway stage.

That gap came down rapidly as the rain began to fall. Fernández, the first of the cars to encounter the changing conditions, adapted better than most as he extended his margin over Andersson to over a second, with Halder growing ever more frustrated in third.

As the rain began to ease, the top four then stabilised with Fernández maintaining a comfortable if narrow lead over Andersson and Halder, with Butti close behind in fourth.

Fernández duly came home to take the victory, with Andersson claiming a well-deserved runner-up spot, just under a second adrift at the flag, while Butti took third after a side-by-side scrap with Halder at Les Combes on the final lap.

The pair battled it out under braking for the chicane, with Butti momentarily going off-track before claiming the position. Halder tried to fight back but fell just short.

Nicolas Taylor completed the top five in his PMA Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS ahead of Adam Shepherd’s Monlau Motorsport Cupra.

Volt finished seventh, ahead of Nicola Baldan, while Junesung Park was the highest-place Hyundai in ninth.

Santiago Concepción rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Race two at Spa-Francorchamps takes place tomorrow at 10:35 CEST.