First win of the season for Brigliadori in Vallelunga Race 1

The BF Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS of Eric Brigliadori took a commanding victory in TCR Italy’s Race 1 at Vallelunga, finishing 5.6 seconds ahead of the Scuderia del Girasole CUPRA of Salvatore Tavano. Antti Buri completed the podium positions in a Target Competition Hyundai i30 N. The result meant that Briglaidori extended his lead in the standings to 15 points over Buri.
Brigliadori made a good start and led the field into Turn 1, but it was Tavano who made the best start and passed Nicola Baldan for second place on the getaway from the grid; Baldan then slipped to fourth behind Buri. Kevin Ceccon also made up a place, passing Michele Imberti for P5. Going into Turn 2, there was contact between the two CUPRA cars of Federico Paolino and Raffaele Gurrieri. Both cars ended up stranded in the gravel and so the safety car was deployed while they were recovered.
After a little under ten minutes behind the safety car, racing resumed in Lap 5. Tavano had closed up behind Brigliadori, but much of the rest of the race was then fairly processional, with Brigliadori pulling away from Tavano to open up a sizeable lead. Buri began to close on Tavano on Lap 8, but the CUPRA driver was never really threatened and Buri himself would soon come under pressure from his teammate Baldan. At the lower end of the top ten, Evgenii Leonov was attacking Igor Stefanovski, but Lap 9 saw the Russian lock up under braking and run wide at Turn 4.
By Lap 13, with Brigliadori’s lead now over four seconds, the Honda Civic of Mattias Vahtel pulled up at Turn 4 with what looked to be a technical issue while running in seventh position. Over the final few laps, Ceccon was attacking Baldan for fourth place while Ruben Volt who was recovering after an early pit stop passed Denis Babuin for ninth. On Lap 15, the Volkswagen Golf GTI of Marco Butti ended up in the gravel at Turn 14 but the car’s position wasn’t deemed to be a risk to the other competitors and so racing could continue.
The final lap then witnessed two last-minute dramas. Brigliadori crossed the line to take an assertive win from Tavano and Buri, but it was Ceccon who finished fourth after a flat tyre forced Baldan to slow and drop to fifth. A similar issue affected Imberti, who finished thirteenth after starting the final lap in sixth place.
Race 2 will follow at 15:00 (CEST) with the Honda Civic of Mattias Vahtel starting from the pole position of the top-eight reversed grid; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.

Vallelunga – Race 1 
1. Eric Brigliadori (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 17 laps
2. Salvatore Tavano (Scuderia del Girasole, CUPRA Leon Competición), 5.647
3. Antti Buri (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 7.124
4. Kevin Ceccon (Aggressive Team Italia, Hyundai i30 N), 9.486
5. Nicola Baldan (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 14.316

Championship points
1. E. Brigliadori 178 pts; 2. A. Buri 163; 3. S. Tavano 154 

Picture: ACI Sport