Barri-Dionisio win Vallelunga’s thrilling 2-hour race
Giacomo Barri completed a double stint and drove the Audi RS 3 LMS he shared with Ermanno Dionisio to take a dominant win in the 2 hours of Vallelunga, second round of the TCR DSG Endurance Championship.
The race started on a damp track that dried up quickly, forcing many teams to pit for a tyre change. In fact, most of them had elected to start on rain tyres, while the best pick was to mount slicks at the front and wets at the back.
This led to a long sequence of lead changes, with no fewer than six teams taking turns on top of the classification.
Giovanni Altoè, the winner of the season opener at Monza, was in command for the first 30 minutes before being replaced by his nephew Alessandro. They dropped down the order and finished in 11th position. Following the succession of pit stops, the leadership passed to Nicola Patrinicola, then to Michele Imberti, Davide Valsecchi (who was given a 10-second stop-and-go for a grid infringement), Gabriele Volpato and finally to Barri when there were still 40 minutes to go.
The second round of pit stops reshuffled the order and ten minutes before the end Volpato’s co-driver Sandro Pelatti was in the lead, with Barri on his heels. The latter moved ahead with a superb manoeuvre at the Curvone and crossed the finishing line with a margin of 7 seconds that became 15 as Pelatti-Volpato received a time penalty for a pit stop infringement. Just like at Monza, the third place went to Cosimo Barberini and Carlotta Fedeli.
The next round of the series will be a Saturday night race at Misano on June 8.
Race
1. BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS (Barri/Dionisio), 61 laps
2. Audi Sport Customer Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS (Pelatti/Volpato), 15.302
3. CUPRA Racing, CUPRA (Fedeli/Barberini), 24.848
Championship
1. Dionisio/Barri 33 pts; 2. Fedeli/Barberini 33; 3. G. Altoè/A. Altoè 32
