Enrico Bettera leads from lights to flag at Imola

Enrico Bettera converted his pole position in a lights-to-flag victory in TCR Italy’s Race 1 at Imola. The reigning champion Salvatore Tavano finished second and retained the leadership in the standings, while his rival Marco Pellegrini, who was on equal points with him before Imola, lost a wheel during the penultimate lap.
Bettera took command of the race from the pole position, followed by Matteo Greco, Igor Stefanovski and Jacopo Guidetti. Positions did not change for the first four laps, then Pellegrini overtook Luca Segù for seventh and soon afterwards Guidetti went off twice during the same lap before retiring into the pits with a brake issue.
On lap 5, Segù parked his Honda at the Piratella bend and prompted the safety car into action. When racing resumed, on lap 7, Bettera pulled away and behind him there was a thrilling battle between Sefanovski, Tavano, Greco, Pellegrini, Eric Scalvini and Felix Wimmer. There were contacts and positions swapped many times; Stefanovski and Greco rejoined after going off and eventually Tavano advanced to second ahead of Pellegrini, Stefanovski and Wimmer.
On lap 12, Scalvini and Matteo Bergonzini made contact while fighting for the sixth position and so Greco took the opportunity to pass them both at the Rivazza. During the following lap, Pellegrini lost the front-right wheel and went off at the first chicane, handing the third position to Stefanovski who finished a few seconds behind Bettera and Tavano.
Race 2 will start Sunday at 13:15 local time (CET), with the Pellegrini and Tavano filling the front row; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.

Race 1
1. Enrico Bettera (Pit Lane Competizioni, Audi RS 3 LMS), 14 laps
2. Salvatore Tavano (Scuderia del Girasole, CUPRA), 3.481
3. Igor Stefanovski (Stefanovski racing Team, CUPRA), 9.913
4. Felix Wimmer (Wimmer Werk Motorsport, CUPRA), 11.797
5. Matteo Greco (Scuderia del Girasole, CUPRA), 12.423

Championship points
1. Tavano 112 pts; 2. Pellegrini 97; 3. Greco 90