Imola's Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is the stage for the third event of the TCR Italy championship that is currently led by Marco Pellegrini in his Target Competition Hyundai i30 N.
Though Pellegrini has still to win a race this year, he has always finished on the podium, building a 14-point lead in the standings.
His closest competitors are BF Racing's youngster Eric Brigliadori (Audi RS 3 LMS) who scored a double victory in the previous event at Misano, and the reigning champion Salvatore Tavano (Scuderia del Girasole, CUPRA Leon Competición), the winner of the season's opening race at Mugello.
Felice Jelmini (PMA Motorsport, Hyundai), another title contender, has proved to be the fastest of the pack, but was stripped twice of race wins. He was demoted to third after Mugello’s Race 2 for having caused an incident and was excluded after Misano’s Race 1 for a technical infringement.
The Imola event will mark the return to the series of another young gun, Jacopo Guidetti who was impressive last year in his rookie season at the wheel of an Audi RS 3 LMS run by BF Motorsport. Guidetti has been included in JAS Motorsport’s Drivers Development Programme and will be at the wheel of a Honda Civic Type R entered by MM Motorsport. Another returnee is Macedonia’s Igor Stefanovski with a Hyundai i30 N run by his own team.
Both races will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com; Race 1 Saturday at 14:20 (CEST) and Race 2 Sunday at 11:30 (CEST).
Picture: ACI Sport