Comini dominant in TCR opener

Stefano Comini took a dominant win in the first ever TCR International Series race in Sepang, as SEAT completed a podium lockout.

After an additional formation lap, both front-row men got a sluggish start, allowing Rene Munnich to challenge Comini for the lead into turn one from fifth on the grid. However, both missed their braking points and ran wide, Comini somehow surviving a lurid half-spin and still emerging in second, with polesitter Kevin Gleason coming through to the lead.

Undeterred, the Swiss driver tracked Gleason around the rest of the lap and pounced at the turn 15 hairpin. Thereafter, he was never troubled and duly romped away to take his and Target Competion’s first win.

Comini took a determined win in the inaugural TCR event (TCR International Series)

As Gleason struggled to keep pace with Comini, he found himself under intense pressure from the Craft-Bamboo SEATs of Sergey Afanasyev and Pepe Oriola, who managed to cut through the turn one mayhem from seventh and eighth on the grid respectively.

By the end of lap two, both Lukoil machines had muscled past, although what appeared to be a missed gear from Afanasyev promptly gifted second to Oriola, who will start a promising third for Race Two on Sunday.

Gleason would at least mount a late fight-back against Afanasyev and forced the Russian into a huge lock-up at turn nine, but was unable to convert the pressure into a passing opportunity. The American would eventually lose out to the second Honda of team-mate Gianni Morbidelli and fellow front-row starter Andrea Belicchi, who recovered well from first-lap contact with Ferenc Ficza to finish fifth.

Race Two polesitter Jordi Gene had a quiet race on his return to action in seventh, with Michel Nykjaer, Ficza and Lorenzo Veglia rounding out the top ten.

Mikael Grachev had been running a strong sixth on the debut outing for the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Audi TT, before encountering problems that forced him to join team-mate Franz Engstler and Munnich among the watching spectators.