Tricky conditions of the Zhejiang Circuit put the drivers in the position to bet for the tyre choice. Aurélien Comte went for a full set of rains, like some of the others, but eventually he was the winner of the lottery, beating Norbert Michelisz – who changed his mind at the very last minute – and Thed Björk who had gone for the same solution.
The two top drivers in the standings, the leader Mikel Azcona and his pursuer Santiago Urrutia, made different choices. Urrutia with four wet tyres was able to finish fifth, while Azcona who also made a late change to a mixed set crawled at the back and was 14th.
This means that the Spaniard lost 16 points to Urrutia, which reduced the gap to 17, with Michelisz now 12 points behind the Uruguayan.
With a drizzly weather and a wet track, most of the front runners went for a full set of rain tyres, but Yann Ehrlacher, Ma Qing Hua and Azcona who chose slicks at the front.
At the start, Jean-Karl Vernay from P2 led the field from Björk, Comte and Lo Sze Ho, with the pole sitter Diego Moran dropping to fifth. It was soon clear that the mixed tyre choice wouldn’t pay, as Azcona and the others dropped at the back.
In lap 2, Björk took the lead from Vernay and Michelisz overtook Urrutia for P6. One lap later, Comte passed his teammate and Michelisz moved up into fourth ahead of Moran and Lo. Comte overtook Björk for the lead in lap 5, while Michelisz kept on moving and passed Vernay in lap 6 and Björk in lap 9; Urrutia too progressed to fifth.
Up front, Comte had built a gap of more than five seconds, while Vernay tried to chase Björk who managed to keep him behind.
There were no further changes, Comte won from Michelisz, Björk, Vernay and Urrutia; Lo Sze Ho and Moran were classified sixth and seventh winning again the Guest Star Trophy and TCR Asia, while Azcona finished 14th.
The last race is due to start at 13:40 local time (06:40 CET).
Race 2
- Aurélien Comte (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 18 laps
- Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV), 8.675
- Thed Björk (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 11.123
Guest Star Trophy: Lo Sze Ho (Evolve Racing, Hyundai Elantra N)
Championship points
- M. Azcona, 415 pts.; 2. S. Urrutia, 398; 3. N. Michelisz, 387
Picture: WSC/Paddocker
