Yann Ehrlacher won Race 1 ahead of Santiago Urrutia, while the team's other drivers Thed Björk and Ma Qing Hua encored the 1-2 finish in Race 2.
Behind them, GOAT Racing drivers Esteban Guerrieri and Ignacio Montenegro completed the podiums, while SP Compétition Aurélien Comte finished twice fourth.
These results at the season mid-point, meant that Ehrlacher's leadership in the standings has grown to 27 points over Guerrieri, with Urrutia and Björk placed third and fourth with gaps of 35 and 43 points.
In the Teams' championship, Lynk & Co Cyan Racing has built a healty lead of 188 points over GOAT Racing.
The series will resume after the summer break with a three-race event at Tailem Ben in Australia on September 11/13.
Championship points
1. Y. Ehrlacher, 193 pts; 2. E. Guerrieri, 177; 3. S. Urrutia, 166 ...
Race 1
Ehrlacher scores his third win of the season
Yann Ehrlacher got away well from the pole ahead of Santiago Urrutia and Esteban Guerrieri, while Aurélien Comte jumped Mikel Azcona and grabbed fourth, despite Azcona trying to come across.
Before the start, Viktor Andersson and Ignacio Montenegro had headed into the pit lane, with Andersson suffering with a fuel pump issue and rejoining three laps down.
Up front, Ehrlacher, Urrutia, and Guerrieri began to break away from Comte, while Montenegro joined the race from the pit lane but soon picked up a drive-through penalty for a starting procedure infringement.
His GOAT Racing teammates soon ran into trouble of their own, with Marco Butti pitting from ninth with a slow puncture, while Dušan Borković, who had moved up from 14th to ninth retired with a broken rear wheel after brushing the wall.
A slide for Mikel Azcona resulted in a rear-left puncture for the Spanish driver who pitted from fifth place, then rejoined to finish 11th.
Montenegro was on a recovery drive after his penalty and overtook Daniel Teixeira for ninth on the final lap.
Nothing could stop Ehrlacher from cruising to victory ahead of Urrutia, with Guerrieri completing the podium.
Quote from race winner
Yann Ehrlacher, Winner of Race 1
“Being on the podium here is always a good thing, and this is the first time I’ve won this race so I’m very happy. There’s always a warm welcome from the Portuguese fans in Vila Real. The track is amazing, and I’ve felt comfortable since free practice yesterday. I had 30kg of Compensation Weight, so I went all-in from FP1 and qualifying. Then today the main task was to stay in front and save the tyres to the end. It went well, we’ve still got good points today.”
Race 1
1. Y. Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 14 laps
2. S. Urrutia (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 1.021
3. E. Guerrieri (GOAT Racing, Honda Civic FL5), 1.994 ...
Race 2
Ma Qing Hua hands the victory to Thed Björk
Ignacio Montenegro had the pole on the reversed grid, but he was flanked by the Lynk & Co cars of Ma Qing Hua and Thed Björk and dropped to third. Behind him should have been Viktor Andersson, but again the Swedish driver failed to make the start. This left a gap ahead of Aurélien Comte, who was able to take advantage of the space in front of him to pass Norbert Michelisz for the fourth place.
At the mid-race, Ma – who was not eligible to score points for the Teams’ championship this weekend – let Björk through into the lead. The Swedish driver then controlled the pace and won by half a second ahead of Ma.
Michelisz was set to be the top finishing Hyundai in fifth position until he pitted with three laps to go with a broken driveshaft, rejoining to finish a lap down in 13th; so it was his teammate Mikel Azcona to take P5 behind Comte.
Marco Butti would be the only retirement of the race; the Italian was applying pressure to the Lynk & Co of points leader Yann Ehrlacher until he had to stop with a technical issue with two laps to go out of ninth, promoting teammate Dušan Borković in his place.
Race 2
1. T. Björk (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 14 laps
2. Ma Q.H. (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03), 0.509
3. I. Montenegro (GOAT Racing, Honda Civic FL5), 2.094 ...
Quote from race winner
Thed Björk, Winner of Race 2
“It was absolutely fantastic. I’m so happy to be sitting here and I only do it because of Ma and my team. Ma had fantastic pace, but now I owe him one victory, and he knows that. I know that he will claim it back. It’s so important to be on the podium, score the wins and collect the points. It’s super-tough at the top, so you need all the points you can get. Now we are halfway through the season, and I’m very happy and proud to be here in Vila Real, I know how many people and marshals are working here, and I’m very happy that we’re coming back here next year.”
The FIA TCR World Tour will be back racing to Vila Real for the next three years.
The agreement has been signed today between the two races by Alexandre Favaios, Mayor of Vila Real, WSC President Marcello Lotti, Ni Amorin, President of Portugal's National Sporting Authority (FPAK) and Diogo Ferrão, CEO of Race Ready, promoter of the Circuito Internacional de Vila Real.
The official announcement was delivered just before the podium of Race 2.
"We are very pleased to return racing here over the next three years," said Lotti. "All the people of Vila Real have given us a very warm welcome and their enthusiasm contributes to make this event great. Our competitors love the city, its street circuit and the passion of the local fans. We all are already looking forward to come here again for next year's event."
