Mike Halder is TCR Spain champion, as Azcona wins Race 1

Guest driver and reigning TCR Europe champion Mikel Azcona won the first race of TCR Spain’s season finale at Barcelona that sacred Mike Halder as the 2021 champion.
Azcona sprinted from the pole position and led for the whole distance. He rejected Mike Halder’s attempts during the first two laps, then built a gap that grew up to four seconds. During the penultimate lap, Halder managed to cut his gap to 1.3 seconds benefiting from the traffic of the CET-class cars. However, Azcona reacted and took the chequered flag with a margin of 1.7 seconds over the German driver.
Far behind the leading pair, Michelle Halder had taken the third place thanks to a great getaway from P5 on the grid. She kept Gustavo Moura at bay and the Portuguese lost two places to Sergio López and Isidro Callejas during the first lap. Callejas then moved into fourth ahead of López and began to chase Michelle Halder. 
In lap 4, Moura benefited from the battle ahead and passed López and Callejas in one move, but then he was punted into a spin by Callejas and dropped to eighth.
Michelle Halder took advantage from the fight behind her and pulled away on her way to complete the podium; in lap 9, López outbraked himself while trying to pass Callejas and dropped to eighth. Callejas crossed the finishing line in fourth position ahead of Moura who had recovered after his spin.
Races 2 and 3 will take place tomorrow at 12:30 and 16:30 (CEST); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. 

Barcelona – Race 1
1. Mikel Azcona (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 12 laps
2. Mike Halder (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 1.715
3. Michelle Halder (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 14.137
4. Isidro Callejas (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 17.719
5. Gustavo Moura (GC24 Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 24.668

Championship points – TCR Spain
1. Mk. Halder 492 pts; 2. A. Cutillas 365; 3. F. Navarrete 327 

Picture: RFEdeA