Machado beats Ceccon to Vallelunga pole
Today, at Vallelunga, César Machado claimed his first pole position in TCR Italy at the wheel of his Target Competition Honda Civic FK2.
In a thrilling Qualifying session four different drivers alternated on top of the timesheet until the Portuguese clocked the fastest lap of 1:40.070 five minutes before the end of the session.
This demoted Team Mulsanne’s Kevin Ceccon to second; the young Italian – on his first appearance in the series with the Rome Ferraris-built Alfa Romeo Giulietta – had previously posted a provisional fastest lap of 1:40.097.
After topping the list for a while with a lap of 1:40.381, Eric Scalvini qualified third in the BRC Racing Hyundai i30 N, improving twice in the final moments to 1:40.252 and 1:40.126.
Another provisional fastest lap setter, Luigi Ferrara, ranked fourth (1:40.264) in the V-Action Racing Gulietta, followed by the current points leader Salvatore Tavano in the SEAT Motorsport Italia Cupra (1:40.475) and the Pit Lane Competizioni Audi RS3 LMS of Enrico Bettera (1:40.603).
Nicola Baldan (M1RA Hyundai) and Massimiliano Mugelli (MM Motorsport Honda Civic FK7) qualified in seventh and eighth respectively, immediately ahead of Giovanni Altoè (Pit Lane Audi) who topped the DSG Trophy. Federico Paolino (BRC Racing Hyundai) rounded off the top ten, while Tavano’s teammate Matteo Greco, currently second in the championship standings, qualified 11th in his Cupra DSG.
The session was disrupted by the red flag after a few minutes, when Andrea Larini crashed at T13.
Race 1 will start at 15:10 CET; live streaming at and www.tcr-series.tv.
