Kevin Giacon wins twice in Coppa Italia Turismo opener

The Coppa Italia Turismo season opener at Vallelunga saw the MM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R cars finishing 1-2 in both races. Kevin Giacon scored a double victory, beating twice the reigning champion Paolo Rocca. In Race 1, Giacon and Rocca benefitted from the penalty imposed to Sandro Pelatti’s Aikoa Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, while they dominated the field in the second race. 

Race 1 – From P2 on the grid, Pelatti made a better start than pole sitter Rocca and led, while Giacon followed in third. Rocca was not able to pass Pelatti and during the final stages he lost the second place to Giacon who eventually overtook Pelatti in lap 10. However, a collision between ProRace teammates Alessandro Lisi and Konstantyn Gutsul resulted in the race being red flagged. Therefore, results were frozen back to lap 9, with Pelatti ahead of Giacon. Then, the Stewards imposed a 25-second penalty to Pelatti because his team had worked on the grid after the 3-minute board, which dropped him to tenth and promoted Giacon, Rocca and Nicola Guida to the first three places. 

Race 2 – Rocca and Giacon shared the front row, and both started well; during the first lap Giacon stole the lead from his teammate. The MM Motorsport pair pulled away from the rest of the field, while Rocca kept on chasing Giacon, but without coming close enough to attempt an overtaking move. This race too was red flagged with two minutes left on the clock, when Konstantyn Gutsul’s Audi went off at the Esses during lap 13. Pelatti finished a distant third ahead of Guida.

The next event of the season will be on 27/28 May at Varano.

Vallelunga – Race 1

1. Kevin Giacon (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R Fk7), 9 laps

2. Paolo Rocca (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R Fk7), 0.875

3. Nicola Guida (Scuderia del Girasole, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 3.473

Vallelunga – Race 2

1. Kevin Giacon (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R Fk7), 12 laps

2. Paolo Rocca (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R Fk7), 1.150

3. Sandro Pelatti (Aikoa Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 11.874

Championship points

1. K. Giacon, 20 pts; 2. P. Rocca, 18; 3. N. Guida, 9 

Picture: PNK Motorsport