Kevin Ceccon wins at Imola as Azcona drops out
Kevin Ceccon took his second consecutive TCR Italy race victory in his Aggressive Team Italia Hyundai i30 N and leapt to the lead of the championship after early leader Mikel Azcona suffered a puncture.
Azcona made a perfect start from pole position in his Volcano Motorsport CUPRA, while Ceccon did well to hold on to second after having a slow getaway, with the Hyundai of Igor Stefanovski moving up to third ahead of the other Volcano CUPRA of Evgenii Leonov.
Guest starter Martin Ryba in the MM Motorsport Honda was spun out from 12th after contact from Ettore Carminati’s Hyundai at Variante Alta, while Azcona led the opening lap ahead of Ceccon and Stefanovski.
The race heated up at the end of lap three, with Antti Buri in his Target Competition Hyundai passing championship leader Eric Brigliadori’s BF Motorsport Audi at Acque Minerali for fifth place, while at the same time the second MM Motorsport of Ibragim Akhmadov was spun out of the race by the Hyundai of Dušan Kouřil.
Coming out of Rivazza and onto the straight for the start of lap four, Brigliadori was mugged by both Salvatore Tavano’s Scuderia del Girasole CUPRA as well as Nicola Baldan’s Hyundai, with Baldan passing both Brigliadori and the Honda of Ruben Volt in one bold move around the outside.
Up front, Azcona slowed out of the lead with a front-left puncture on his CUPRA, handing the lead to Ceccon as he recovered to the pit lane.
Baldan was now on a charge, after having started 11th following a grid penalty for overtaking under the red flags in qualifying. The former champion soon passed Tavano for fifth at Tamburello at the start of lap six, and then overtook his teammate Buri for fourth at the start of lap seven, and then the race began to settle down after a frantic few laps.
Ceccon was briefly under pressure from behind from Stefanovski but managed to hold the Macedonian at bay and began to pull out to a safe distance, while Leonov looked set for a safe third until the final few laps, when the CUPRA driver lost pace with a broken splitter.
This allowed Baldan to close up, right to the tail of Leonov’s car, and the Russian was forced to defend hard to hold on to his first podium in the championship, with Baldan crossing the line just behind in fourth, with Buri fifth.
Ceccon has now assumed the lead of the drivers’ championship on 241 points, with Brigliadori dropping to second, 15 points behind after finishing a lowly eighth in the race, with Buri just one point further behind in the points table.
The second race is scheduled for 12:15 CEST on Sunday, with Hyundai starting from the pole position of the top-eight reversed grid; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.
Imola – Race 1
1. Kevin Ceccon (Aggressive Team Italia, Hyundai i30 N), 17 laps
2. Igor Stefanovski (AKK Stefanovski, Hyundai i30 N), 0.816
3. Evgenii Leonov (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 7.719
4. Nicola Baldan (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 8.162
5. Antti Buri (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 8.298
Championship points
1. K. Ceccon 241 pts; 2. E. Brigliadori 226; 3. A. Buri 225
Picture: ACI Sport
