Brigliadori to start from pole after frantic Monza Qualifying

The Audi RS 3 LMS of Eric Brigliadori will start the first TCR Italy race at Monza from pole after a dramatic last few laps in the twenty-five minute Qualifying session. Alongside Brigliadori on the grid will be the Honda Civic of Jacopo Guidetti, with Row 2 being made up of a pair of Honda Civic cars in the hands of Guidetti’s teammates Alessandro Giardelli and Jonathan Giacon.
The session’s first competitive laps saw Marco Pellegrini’s Hyundai i30 N set the benchmark of 2:02.579, with BF Motorsport colleagues Ronnie Valori (2:03.553) and Brigliadori (2:03.962) the best of the rest. Brigliadori then went P1 with a lap of 1:59.906, becoming the first driver to beat the 2:00 mark in the process, although also improving were Pellegrini (2:01.280) and Damiano Reduzzi, who jumped to P3 with a time of 2:02.057. Valori then briefly moved to P2 behind Brigliadori with a lap of 2:00.348, but the lap time was deleted when he was judged to have infringed track limits. Matteo Poloni was the quickest of the DSG entrants with a best lap of 2:03.189.
Times continued to improve as the session went on, with Guidetti (2:00.021) going P2, Giardelli P3 (2:00.207) and Salvatore Tavano P4 (2:00.247). Then, with around eleven minutes remaining, Guidetti went P1 with a lap of 1:59.375, quickly being joined by Giacon in P2 with a 1:59.816 and Tavano improving to retake P4 with a lap of 1:59.955.
Most drivers then dived for the pits to fit fresh tyres, emerging with around six minutes of the session left. Brigliadori’s first quick lap on the fresh rubber saw him leap to P2 with a time of 1:59.684, but he bettered his time on the very next lap to claim provisional pole position with a 1:58.843.
As the seconds ticked down, driver after driver improved their lap times. Guidetti sealed second position on the grid with a 1:59.221 in the dying moments of the session, with Ronnie Valori moving up to P3 seconds after the chequered flag fell with a time of 1:59.536. The drama wasn’t over, however, as both Giardelli (1:59.289) and Giacon (1:59.428) edged out Valori’s Audi on their last laps. Behind Valori, Salvatore Tavano, Simone Pellegrinelli, Marco Pellegrini, Igor Stefanovski and Felice Jelmini completed the top ten. Poloni’s Audi RS3 will start as the best of the DSG cars in eleventh position.
Pellegrini and Pellegrinelli will share the front row of the top-eight reversed grid for Sunday’s Race 2. 
Race 1 will start tomorrow at 12:55 local time (CEST) and will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com.

Qualifying
1:58.608 Eric Brigliadori (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:58.869 Jacopo Guidetti (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
1:59.289 Alessandro Giardelli (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
1:59.428 Jonathan Giacon (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
1:59.536 Ronnie Valori (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)

Championship points
1. Eric Brigliadori 116 pts; 2. Salvatore Tavano 110; 3. Marco Pellegrini 108 

Picture: ACI Sport