Photo: TCR Spain

Mike Halder wins as Ruben Volt is hit with track limit penalties

By

TPR Motorsport driver Mike Halder claimed the victory in the first race of the day at Motorland Aragón, host of the second round of the 2025 TCR Spain season, after a race marked by the track limits penalties.

Sunny skies and dry conditions welcomed the TCR Spain field for the first race of the day, albeit with the concern for the strong cross winds at Motorland.

Halder was slow off the blocks at the start, with ALM Motorsport driver Ruben Volt (Honda) taking the lead from third on the grid and Jenson Brickley (Cupra) instead challenging Halder for second place.

Monlau Motorsport driver Eric Gené (Cupra) started from eleventh on the grid and was recovering ground up to seventh place at the end of the first lap.

Michael Markussen (Honda) went wide on lap three, with Felipe Fernández, Gené and Sten-Dorian Piirimagi (Honda) overtaking the Danish driver who dropped to ninth. Gené tried to overtake Fernández at the end of lap four, but went wide and lost ground.

The trio at the front tightened the gaps between them as Markussen retired on lap seven, parking his Honda at the end of the main straight due to a technical issue. The retirement promoted Rubén Fernández (Honda) to eighth place.

Another retirement came a lap later as Zabala headed to the pits with a suspension issue.

“We hoped to be able to fight for victory, but we suffered a broken damper, so we had to retire,” said Zabala after his retirement.

Volt crossed the finishing line in first place as the chequered flag dropped, but received several penalties for track limits which dropped him to fifth.

This handed victory to Halder ahead of Brickley and Felipe Fernández.

Gené was fourth, followed by Volt and Rubén Fernández. Piirimagi, who also received track limit penalties, finished seventh ahead of Savoldelli, Thome and Urien.

“The start was not so good and we went three-wide at the first corner and there was some contact,” said Halder after the race. “I pushed a lot but I saw that Ruben using a lot of the track, so I thought that maybe he would have a penalty and that I didn’t have to push so much.”

Gené continues leading the championship with 112 points, nine ahead of Halder.

Race 2 is scheduled for 15:45 CEST on Sunday afternoon.