Five points split Girolami and Comte in TCR Europe after Brno
The battle for the TCR Europe title is going down to the wire and it will be decided in two weeks, when the season finale takes place at Valencia’s Circuito Ricardo Tormo. Only five points split CUPRA fellow drivers Franco Girolami and Aurélien Comte after the pair of races at Brno, where the European series shared the track with TCR Eastern Europe.
Girolami and Comte finished first and second in Saturday’s Race 1 after a thrilling fight that they resumed Sunday in the second race when they were trying to conquer the final podium place behind the ALM Motorsport pair of Levente Losonczy and Ignacio Montenegro. Eventually Comte crossed the line third just ahead of Girolami, but they both were given penalties, dropping to eighth and ninth.
The situation in the standings sees Girolami leading Comte by five, with Montenegro the only other contender for the title, 31 points behind.
Race 1 – After beating Comte to the pole by four tenths, Girolami had a good start and moved straight to the inside to cover off Comte, while behind them Mat’o Homola, the best-placed of TCR Eastern Europe, moved up into third ahead of Viktor Andersson. Montenegro was up to fifth from P7 on the grid after swapping positions with Martin Kadlečík a couple of times. A lap later Bartosz Groszek passed his teammate Kadlečík for fifth and then attempted to dive around Montenegro at T3 on lap 3, but ran wide, allowing Kadlečík back through. Kadlečík then made a daring lunge down the inside at T11 and took fifth from Montenegro, with Groszek following him through to take sixth; Montenegro dropped even further as he struggled for grip and would go on to finish eighth.
Up front, Girolami controlled the pace ahead of Comte and Homola, while Andersson in fourth came under threat in the closing stages by Kadlečík, but was able to hold onto fourth overall, and third in TCR Europe. The main drama late in the race came when Viktor Davidovski, closing on Montenegro, was pushed into a spin by Giovanni Scamardi on lap 9; he was able to rejoin but dropped to the rear of the field.
Race 2 – Losonczy started from pole ahead of Groszek and led the way into T1, while Montenegro made a quick getaway and passed Scamardi for third; the Argentine then passed Groszek at T5. Comte had made a rocket start and soon threaded both Andersson and Adam Kout to grab fifth before the safety car was called following a collision between Petr Čížek and Žarko Knego at T4.
When the race resumed, Comte quickly swapped places with teammate Scamardi and began chasing down Groszek. Girolami was making up ground and after a few tries he passed Scamardi for sixth and then Andersson for fifth. He closed the gap to Comte, making a daring pass for fourth on lap 10 at T5, but Comte came back and retook the position. The two then caught up to Groszek who was stuck behind Montenegro and on the final lap Comte went for a gap down the inside of Groszek; they came together, with Groszek falling to sixth. Up front, Losonczy went on to win by 1.3 seconds over Montenegro, with Comte crossing the line third ahead of Girolami. However, they both received five-second penalties, Comte for the collision with Groszek and Girolami for causing the incident between Čížek and Knego, that dropped them to eighth and ninth.
Brno – Race 1
- Franco Girolami (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 11 laps
- Aurélien Comte (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 2.616
- Victor Andersson (MA:GP, Lynk & Co 03), 12.637
Brno – Race 2
- Levente Losonczy (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 13 laps
- Ignacio Montenegro (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 1.340
- Victor Andersson (MA:GP, Lynk & Co 03), 3.432
Championship points
- F. Girolami, 327 pts; 2. A. Comte, 322; 3. I. Montenegro, 296
Picture: TCR Europe/Ollivision
