Néstor Girolami dominates Race 1 at Sandown

WTCR guest star Néstor Girolami dominated the first day of TCR Australia at Sandown Raceway. The Argentine drove his Wall Racing Honda Civic to set pole position in Qualifying and then converted it to a lights-to-flag victory in the first race. Championship leader Will Brown finished in second position and increased his leading margin by another 16 points over Dylan O’Keeffe who was classified eighth. O’Keeffe’s teammate Jordan Cox claimed his first podium result since he joined the series by finishing third after a number of close fights.
The track was still damp after the morning rain and most of the drivers chose a combination of slicks and rain tyres, while Russell Ingall was the only one to go for four slicks, a bet that didn’t pay off. Both, Girolami and Brown opted for slicks at the front and rain at the rear.
At the start Girolami was fast from the pole, while René Heimgartner who was second on the grid nearly stalled and dropped behind. Brown, John Martin, Jason Bright and Cox followed Girolami, then on lap 2, Martin passed Brown for second and on lap 3 Cox passed Bright for fourth. In lap 5, Heimgartner brushed the wall and retired with a broken suspension.
Girolami pulled away, while Martin, Brown and Cox were fighting for the second place and Garth Tander was recovering on them. In lap 9, Cox passed Brown for P3, but then ran wide at T1 and dropped again to fourth. In lap 12, Brown overtook Martin for P2 and the latter found himself chased by Cox and Tander. In lap 15, Liam McAdam moved into P6 ahead of James Moffatt. In lap 16, Martin made a mistake and Cox was quick to pass him for P3; at the same time Bright retired from P8 with a flat front tyre.
In lap 17, Tander passed Martin for P4 and the latter managed to defend P5 from McAdam and Moffatt. And so they finished, with Girolami the winner from Brown, Cox and Tander, whith O’Keeffe in eighth position.
Race 2 will start tomorrow at 12:15 local time (04:15 CET) with the grid based on Race 1 result; Race 3 will follow one hour later. Both will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.

Race 1
1. Néstor Girolami (Wall Racing, Honda Civic FK7), 19 laps
2. Will Brown (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 2.2226
3. Jordan Cox (Ashley Seward Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta), 10.1903
4. Garth Tander (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 11.8140
5. John Martin (Wall Racing, Honda Civic FK7), 14.9564

Championship points
1. Will Brown 574 pts; 2. O’Keeffe 442; 3. Tony D’Alberto 403