Teddy Clairet scored his first Kumho TCR World Tour victory on home soil at Paul Ricard after fighting off a late challenge from Ma Qing Hua.
The French driver and his Team Clairet Sport CUPRA Leon VZ, started from third on the reversed grid. Him and Ma went either side of polesitter Manuel Fernandes on the run to T1, then Clairet swept around the outside of Ma and emerged in the lead.
Contact between Ma and his teammate Santiago Urrutia at the chicane resulted in the Uruguayan moving up into second place, before Ma got back in front on lap 2.
Clairet was setting a blistering pace in the lead, but it was to the cost of his tyres in the high temperatures. Ma was able to come back at him over the final few laps, but Clairet positioned his CUPRA perfectly to hold on for victory by less than two tenths.
Urrutia came under attack from race one winner Mikel Azcona, who tried an outside move at T1 with five laps remaining. Azcona was forced wide and Urrutia held on for P3. Just behind Azcona were Yann Ehrlacher and Thed Björk; the rear of Björk’s car had been hit by Aurélien Comte on the first lap, costing him some time, but the Swede moved ahead of Ehrlacher just before the finish line for fifth.
Norbert Michelisz was seventh, while Jenson Brickley made his way from the back of the grid, due to a penalty for three reprimands this season, to eighth. The retirement of Julien Briché with a puncture meant that Fernandes claimed ETS Guest Star Trophy honours in ninth, while Damiano Reduzzi was 10th.
The world series resumes for rounds 8 and 9 next weekend at Vila Real.
Race 2
- Teddy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 16 laps
- Ma Qing Hua (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 0.153
- Santiago Urrutia (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface), 5.374
Championship points
- S. Urrutia, 182 pts.; 2. M. Azcona, 176; 3. N. Michelisz, 150
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
