The TCR maiden season brought in a second national title; after Aleksey Dudukalo in Russia, Valentina Albanese was crowned overall champion in the Italian Touring Endurance Championship.
Yesterday, at the wheel of her SEAT León TCR, Albanese won the series’ first race at Mugello and grabbed the title even before Sunday’s Race 2 that ends the season. The way to her triumph was paved by a consistent season that resulted in eight race wins, and also by the decision of the SEAT Motorsport Italia team to enter Jordi Gené in the two final events.
Just like it happened in Misano three weeks ago, the Spaniard set pole position in qualifying, helped Albanese in the lead during the race and protected her back from the other competitors. At the end of the 50-minute race, the two SEAT cars crossed the finish line in close formation, inflicting huge gaps to the followers: 42.5 seconds to the BMW M3 of Palazzo-Zanin and 52.3 to the BMW 320 of Valli-Montalbano.
In the championship’s overall standings, Albanese collected a total of 115 points, 32 more than the duo formed by Stefano Valli and Vincenzo Montalbano.
