Gené and Shepherd share wins while Halder secures the title

Eric Gené and series newcomer Adam Shepherd won the two races of TCR Spain’s season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but it was Mike Halder who secured his second title in the series in the first race of the weekend finishing third in the TPR Racing Honda Civic.

Monlau Motorsport CUPRA cars dominated both races, with Gené and Jenson Brickley finishing 1-2 in the first race and the freshly-crowned TCR UK champion Shepherd emerging victorious in Race 2 ahead of Halder.

Race 1 - Gené and Brickley had locked out the first row of the grid ahead of the Sten-Dorian Piirimägi, with points leader Halder starting from P4.

Gené led the way ahead of Brickley, while Halder was straight up to third, passing Piirimägi. The race was soon held under the safety car when Sandro Pelatti hit the wall on the main straight after turning across the nose of the car of his teammate Giovanni Scamardi. Just as the race restarted, the Audi of Sebastien Thome went off in the gravel, and the safety period was extended for another three laps.

Gené, Brickley, and Halder controlled the race out front at the restart, while Piirimägi was trying to recover ground, passing Shepherd with contact which earned him a time penalty. Piirimägi was soon also confirmed to have a penalty for a false start, which he failed to serve and so was black-flagged, with Shepherd reclaiming fifth place at the finish. Up front, Gené and Brickley romped to a comfortable 1-2 ahead of Halder, whose third place was enough to secure him the title.

Race 2 - Scamardi started on pole for the reversed grid with Rubén Fernández alongside, but both were passed by the fast-starting Shepherd who led off the second row and led into Turn 1. Fernández was second, while Scamardi dropped down the order, but at T4 Rene Povlsen’s Honda was knocked into a spin by Michael Markussen on the opening lap and the race was held behind the safety car. The race restarted on lap seven, with Shepherd making a perfect start. He led the way ahead of the two Fernández brothers, with Halder close behind them. Halder passed Felipe for third into Turn 1 and then overtook Rubén at the same corner a lap later and began to close down Shepherd’s lead. He was catching the British driver with two laps to go, when the safety car was called as a car had stopped on the main straight, leaving Shepherd to claim victory on his debut weekend in the series.

Race 1

1. Eric Gené (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 12 laps
2. Jenson Brickley (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 0.517
3. Mike Halder (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 1.391

Race 2

1. Adam Shepherd (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 13 laps
2. Mike Halder (TPR Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.659
3. Rubén Fernández (RC2 Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 4.834

Championship points

1. M. Halder, 372 pts; 2. E. Gené, 313; 3. J. Brickley, 278

Picture: TCR Spain/Ralu Balu