Ceccon wins Imola Race 2, as Tavano takes the points lead

Kevin Ceccon won the second TCR Italy’s race at Imola, making up from the disappointment of yesterday’s Race 1, when he retired with a broken suspension.
As far as the title fight is concerned, Antti Buri who was leading the standings, was eliminated by an incident and a penalty deprived Nicola Baldan of the second place, while the reigning champion Salvatore Tavano finished fourth and retook the lead.
With only one event left, at Mugello, four drivers – Tavano, Baldan, Buri and Ceccon – are covered by only ten points, when 90 are still at stake. Eric Brigliadori remains in contention as he’s classified fifth, 32 points behind the leader.
Pole sitter Matteo Poloni sprinted at the start ahead of Ceccon and Mattias Vahtel. As the field entered into the Tamburello bend, Ceccon took the lead from Poloni, while Baldan cut on the gravel and rejoined in fourth position. During the first lap, Ettore Carminati and Riben Volt collided at the Acque Minerali, the Italian rejoined, while the Estonian pitted for repairs.
Tavano passed Buri for seventh, while Vahtel overtook Poloni for second and began chasing the leader Ceccon. Poloni dropped three places as he was passed by Baldan, Michele Imberti and Dušan Kouřil, while Ceccon stubbornly defended the leadership from Vahtel, with Baldan waiting behind them.  
In lap 4, Kouřil passed Imberti for P4, while Buri moved into P7 ahead of Tavano. The reigning champion lost one more place to Felipe Fernández, but the Spaniard made a mistake and Tavano retook the position. 
In lap 7, Riccardo Romagnoli hit Sergio López who spun off, which prompted the safety car into action. When racing resumed in lap 8, Vahtel and Baldan were fighting for the second place, while Buri passed Kouřil for P4. However, soon afterwards the Finn and the Czech made contact on the way to the Variante Alta, and Buri’s Hyundai crashed into the wall. Behind them, another collision involved Tavano and Fernández who spun off.
The safety car was deployed again and when it left the track Ceccon was able to keep Vahtel behind. Moments later, Baldan finally passed Vahtel for P2. In lap 12, Imberti and Poloni came together and went off at the Tosa bend. The safety car was called in for the third time and racing resumed for the final lap. Ceccon resisted Baldan’s last attempt and beat him on the line by less than seven hundredths, with Vahtel third ahead of Kouřil and Tavano. However, a five-second penalty for the cut after the start dropped Baldan to eighth and so Vahtel and Kouřil were promoted to second and third, their first podioum results in TCR Italy. 
Tavano also advanced to fourth and so retook the leadership in the standings, eight points clear of Baldan, while Buri dropped from first to third one further point adrift and one ahead of Ceccon. Brigliadori recovered to finish fifth after starting from P20 and kept his hopes alive in the title fight.
TCR Italy’s season finale will be at Mugello on 8/10 October.

Imola – Race 2
1. Kevin Ceccon (Aggressive Team Italia, Hyundai i30 N), 15 laps
2. Mattias Vahtel (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.685
3. Dušan Kouřil (K2 Engineering, Hyundai i30 N), 1.044
4. Salvatore Tavano (Scuderia del Girasole, CUPRA Leon Competición), 2.371
5. Eric Brigliadori (BF Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 3.156

Championship points
1. S. Tavano 295 pts; 2. N. Baldan 287; 3. A. Buri 286 

Picture: ACI Sport