Photo: TCR World Tour

Teddy Clairet holds off Ma Qing Hua to maiden win

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Teddy Clairet claimed his first FIA TCR World Tour victory in the final race of the weekend at Paul Ricard, withstanding hard pressure from Ma Qing Hua during the last couple of laps.

Audi driver Manuel Fernandes started from the reversed grid pole position but was quickly swamped by the field after a slow getaway, then getting hit into a half-spin at Turn 1 which dropped him down the field.

Instead it was Ma and Clairet who made the best starts from second and third place respectively on the grid.

Ma was in the lead briefly, only for Cupra driver Clairet to get past after the first sequence of corners.

Ma also fell behind Geely Cyan Racing team-mate Santiago Urrutia with some contact, but Ma was able to get back past for second place on lap two.

Thed Björk found himself in a hard fight for fourth with Aurélien Comte, only for the two to make hard contact which saw Björk tapped into a half-spin while Comte had to pit with suspension damage.

Points leader Santiago Urrutia got into a tough fight for third place with Mikel Azcona and Yann Ehrlacher.

The Uruguayan driver defended hard to stay ahead of Azcona to claim important points on his championship rival.

Ma gained quickly on Clairet towards the end of the race and was right on the rear bumper of the Cupra driver during the last couple of laps.

But despite the best efforts from the Chinese driver, Clairet managed to stay ahead to claim his first FIA TCR World Tour victory, just 0.153 seconds ahead of Ma.

Urrutia was a distant third with Azcona right behind in fourth.

Ehrlacher put hard pressure on Azcona but braked right at the finishing line to allow Björk past to fifth place.

Norbert Michelisz drove a quiet race to finish seventh while Honda driver Jenson Brickley rounded off the top eight.

Urrutia is still in the lead of the standings, but only six points ahead of Race 1 winner Azcona. Michelisz is third, 32 points adrift and Björk is fourth, 35 points behind.

The next FIA TCR World Tour race takes place on the streets of Vila Real in Portugal next weekend.