Giacomo Barri and Ermanno Dionisio cruise to Misano pole

Giacomo Barri and Ermanno Dionisio have claimed pole position for the first round of the TCR DSG Europe endurance series at Misano, in a close-fought session, which saw the Team Italy Audi drivers battle with the Élite and NOS Racing Volkswagen cars.
The session was split into two parts, with Alfredo De Matteo setting the first time under 1:46 in his Élite Motorsport Volkswagen with a time of 1:45.823, before he was pipped by Gabriele Giorgi in the NOS Racing car with a time of 1:45.789.
Giorgi held the top spot for about ten minutes before De Matteo struck back with a time of 1:44.938, eight-tenths clear of Giorgi, and a time no one could do anything about.
Dionisio then put in a strong marker for his co-driver to improve upon in the Team Italy Audi, going third fastest, just 1.1 seconds from De Matteo’s time.
The second drivers then took over for the 20-minute Q2, with the combined times set to establish tomorrow’s grid.
For the first 15 minutes of the session, the times were ultra-close, with just a few tenths covering the top three even on a combined lap time.
Gabriele Volpato’s first time of 1:45.057 looked set to give the #65 Volkswagen pole position, before team-mate Alessandro Altoè put in a time of 1:46.076, which placed his and De Matteo’s car back on the aggregate pole position.
Barri’s first run of 1:45.392 would not be enough for the Team Italy Audi car to take pole, and the Audi remained in the pits as Cosimo Barberini, in the #33 NOS Racing car, set a time of 1:45.161 and grabbed the overall pole from De Matteo-Altoè, before Altoè’s next lap put him back ahead, albeit by merely one-tenth of a second.
The close battle ended with just five minutes to go, when Barri headed back out and obliterated everyone else’s lap time, setting a 1:43.765 in his Audi RS 3 LMS to grab the pole position back with a combined time nine-tenths faster than Altoè and De Matteo’s Volkswagen.
Third on the grid will be the NOS Racing Volkswagen of Barberini-Giorgi, with Volpato and Rodrigo Almeida’s Volkswagen fourth and the BF Motorsport Audi of Paolo Palanti and Ronnie Valori completing the top five.
The two-hour endurance race with two mandatory five-minute pit stops is scheduled for 16:25 CEST on Sunday and it will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com.

Qualifying
3:29.822 Dionisio-Barri (Team Italy, Audi RS 3 LMS)
3:30.752 Altoè-De Matteo (Élite Motorsport, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
3:30.884 Barberini-Giorgi (NOS Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
3:31.123 Volpato-Almeida (Élite Motorsport, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
3:31.600 Palanti-Valori (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)

Picture: TCR Europe