Girolami retakes the European title as Clairet wins the last race
In Valencia, Monlau Motorsport’s Franco Girolami clinched the 2024 TCR Europe title for the second time. The Argentine had been crowned champion in 2022 before focusing on a successful campaign in TCR Italy last year. Girolami had staked a claim on the title after a dominant victory in Saturday’s Race 1, his fourth in the season, which had helped him to stretch his leadership in the standings to 19 and 33 points over Aurélien Comte and Ignacio Montenegro. With 40 points on offer in Sunday’s last race, Girolami could control the situation and take a sixth place that was enough to secure the title, while Jimmy Clairet took his first TCR win in four years.
After the last race, Girolami tops the Drivers’ championship with 395 points, 13 ahead of Comte, with Montenegro third, 53 points behind. ALM Motorsport had already won the Teams’ title Saturday after the first race.
Race 1 – Montenegro kept his title hopes alive by grabbing his first pole just under a tenth of a second ahead of Girolami, while the third title contender Comte qualified fifth behind Viktor Andersson and Santiago Concepcíón. At the start, Girolami outdragged Montenegro on the way down to T1 and assumed the lead, while Andersson held on to third ahead of Comte, who had passed the slow-starting Concepcíón. This promoted Jenson Brickley up to fifth, until Andersson retired out of third on lap 4 with a driveshaft problem, which promoted Comte up to third with Brickley chasing him down. As the race went on, Girolami and Montenegro pulled away from Comte, while Concepción overtook Brickley on lap 6 as the Spanish racer was recovering from his poor start. The safety car was called on lap 11, when the CUPRA of Giovanni Scamardi stopped at T4. The race restarted with a three-lap sprint to the finish, with Comte under intense pressure from Concepción, while Brickley was now under assault from Ruben Volt. Comte and Concepción were in a thrilling fight for P3, with Concepción chasing his first podium at his home race, briefly passing at T1 on the final lap before Comte was able to retake the spot at T4. Brickley and Volt made contact, with Volt touching the side of the British driver’s CUPRA, sending him into a spin, for which Volt would receive a 30-second post-race penalty. Girolami went on win by a second clear of Montenegro, with Comte four seconds back clinging on to third place.
Race 2 – Viktor Davidovski started from the pole but was passed into T2 by Clairet who was recovering from a slow getaway. Further behind, both Concepción and Rubén Fernández stalled and fell to the back of the pack. Comte made a strong start from P6 and was up to fifth, before he was forced wide as he tried to pass Nicola Baldan and so dropped to seventh behind Volt. Clairet led ahead of Davidovski and Brickley who was passed by Baldan and then retired with a power issue. Baldan and Volt then overtook Davidovski moving into second and third. Baldan began to close in on his teammate Clairet but in lap 6 he stopped at T1, bringing out the safety car. When the race resumed, Girolami began a charge, running in seventh behind Montenegro and Losonczy. The Argentine overtook Losonczy who was also passed by Concepción. On lap 11, Girolami passed Montenegro, whose title hopes came to an end as he pulled into the pits with a technical issue. Girolami was now right behind Comte as the safety car was called again when Scamardi went off and beached his CUPRA onto the gravel. A short four-lap dash to the finish line followed, with Clairet controlling the pace up front and going on to win ahead of Volt and Davidovski. Comte and Girolami were soon caught by Concepción, with Girolami letting the charging Honda through rather than putting up a fight which could have resulted in incident; he took sixth, which was all he needed to secure the title.
Valencia – Race 1
- Franco Girolami (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 16 laps
- Ignacio Montenegro (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 1.026
- Aurélien Comte (SP Compétition, CUPRA Leon VZ), 4.293
Valencia – Race 2
- Jimmy Clairet (Baldan Group by Comtoyou, CUPRA Leon VZ), 16 laps
- Ruben Volt (ALM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 0.742
- Viktor Davidovski (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.507
Championship points
- F. Girolami, 395 pts; 2. A. Comte, 382; 3. I. Montenegro, 342
Picture: TCR Europe/Mahinta Duarte
