Baldan wins Imola’s Race 2 and retakes TCR Italy points lead
Nicola Baldan took an authoritative victory in the second race of TCR Italy in Imola at the wheel of his Aikoa Racing Audi RS 3 LMS. This was Baldan’s second race win in the season and enabled him to retake the lead in the standings that he had lost to Ruben Volt after Saturday’s Race 1. Volt too had scored his second victory in his ALM Motorsport Honda Civic FL5 beating Matteo Poloni who had started from the pole; the Estonian driver finished on the podium again in Race 2 with third behind Baldan and Alex Ley.
These results mean that Baldan has an eight-point lead over Volt, with Salvatore Tavano a close third, only eleven further points behind.
Race 1 – Poloni had claimed his first pole with a last lap of 1:49.920, beating Volt by nearly three tenths, with Jacopo Cimenes and Nicolas Taylor in P3 and P4, while title contenders Baldan and Tavano were seventh and tenth on the grid. Volt took the lead at the start from Poloni, Junesung Park, Cimenes, Ley and Taylor, but the safety car was called to recover Paolo Rocca’s Honda and Pietro Alessi’s Audi that had gone off at the Piratella bend. Racing resumed in lap 5, with Volt pulling away; Baldan and Tavano were fighting for seventh with Tavano cutting the second chicane and losing contact. There was a five-car battle for P3, with Park chased by Cimenes, Ley, Taylor and Baldan; this group lost Ley who pitted in lap 8 and rejoined one lap down. Up front, Volt’s lead grew to four seconds over Poloni, while Tavano overtook Baldan for P6 in lap 11. Volt took the victory from Poloni; behind them Park won the sprint for the third place ahead of Cimenes and Taylor, with Tavano and Baldan in sixth and seventh.
Race 2 – Gabriele Covini had the pole of the reversed grid with Baldan alongside. At the start Baldan muscled his way ahead of Covini who began to drop, while Poloni was hit by Alessi and crashed into the barriers. In lap 2, Damiano Reduzzi and Alessi came together, with Alessi going off at the Piratella and retiring. Baldan led a seven-car train with Junesung Park, Ley, Cimenes, Volt, Tavano and Taylor behind him. In lap 4, Volt overtook Cimenes for P4. Halfway-through the race, Park was putting pressure on Baldan, but from lap 10 the Italian driver was able to create a small gap. In lap 11, Park slowed down abruptly and limped to the pits. There were no further changes, Baldan won from Ley, Volt, Cimenes and Tavano; Taylor was sixth under the flag, but a ten-second penalty for a grid infringement dropped him to seventh.
DSG – In race 1, the points leader Luca Franca converted the pole position into his maiden victory; behind him Matteo Roccadelli, who had started from P7, completed a brilliant progression as he passed Mattia Lancellotti, Paolo Maria Silvestrini and Luca Verdi to finish second, with Verdi completing the podium. The second race began with a pile-up at the start that eliminated Roccadelli and Silvestrini. Up front, Alessandro Alcidi emerged as the winner at the end of a three-way fight with Verdi and Lancellotti that lasted for the whole race. Franca lost the fourth place when he made a mistake on the penultimate lap and dropped to 12th, however he stays on top of the standings, 31 points clear of Alcidi and Verdi.
The two championships will be back in action at Vallelunga in two-week time.
Imola – Race 1
- Ruben Volt (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 14 laps
- Matteo Poloni (Gear Works, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.322
- Junesung Park (Indigo Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 10.172
Imola – Race 2
- Nicola Baldan (Aikoa Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 16 laps
- Alex Ley (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N), 1.310
- Ruben Volt (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 2.273
Championship points
- N. Baldan, 242 pts; 2. R. Volt, 234; 3. S. Tavano, 223
DSG Championship points
- L. Franca, 284 pts; 2. A. Alcidi, 253; 3. L. Verdi, 253.
Picture: ACI Sport
