Coronel takes a lights-to-flag victory in TCR Europe Race 1

Tom Coronel took an emphatic victory in TCR Europe’s Race 1 at Circuit Paul Ricard in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, with Franco Girolami making it a 1-2 for the team by finishing second. Felice Jelmini was third in a Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N.

Starting from pole, Coronel made a good start and led the field in to Turn 1. Jelmini had started alongside Coronel and was still in P2, but Girolami had made another great start and had made up two places to lie in third. Josh Files, in contrast, had made a poor start and had dropped from P3 to P8. 

Lap 2 saw contact between Janík Motorsport teammates Jáchym Galáš and Mat’o Homola, with the latter forced to run wide. Pepe Oriola was threatening Jack Young for P6 and although the Spaniard briefly passed the British driver, Young quickly struck back and retook the position. Girolami passed Jelmini for second place and set off in pursuit of Coronel. Jelmini then came under attack from fourth-placed John Filippi, while there was contact involving Files, Galáš and Homola.

By Lap 5, Viktor Davidovski’s Audi had closed up on the battle between Oriola and Young. Files passed Homola for P9 on Lap 6 and on the next lap, Young ran wide and Davidovski was able to pass Oriola. Files then closed up on Oriola and the pair began battling for P8. Young looked as though his sixth place was secure, but the Halder Motorsport Honda slowed on the final lap and was forced to retire with a flat front tyre. 

There were no such last-minute dramas for Coronel, however. Despite Girolami steadily closing the gap to the leader over the final few laps, Coronel was able to take a lights-to-flag victory of just under eight-tenths of a second ahead of his teammate. Jelmini completed the podium places, with Davidovski rounding off a near-perfect race for the Comtoyou Racing team by finishing in sixth place.

Race 2 is scheduled to start at 12:05 local time (CEST) tomorrow and will be streamed live on TCR TV.

Le Castellet – Race 1 
1. Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 10 laps
2. Franco Girolami (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 0.798
3. Felice Jelmini (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N), 1.483

Championship points
1. F. Girolami 106 pts; 2. T. Coronel 96; J. Files 77

Picture: TCR Europe