Jimmy Clairet and Brickley are TCR Europe’s first race winners
The first two races of the TCR Europe season at Portimão’s Autódromo do Algarve saw Jimmy Clairet and Jenson Brickley scoring one win apiece.
In Saturday’s Race 1, Clairet led from lights to flag at the wheel of his family-run Audi RS 3 LMS; the second-placed Eric Gené was handed a post-race penalty and so his Monlau Motorsport teammate Brickley and Teddy Clairet were elevated to the other podium spots.
The Briton imitated Clairet in Sunday’s Race 2, which was a thrilling one with plenty of action, scoring a maiden victory in the series with his CUPRA Leon VZ. Race 1 winner Jimmy Clairet was classified fifth, and that was enough for him to close the weekend on top of the standings, three points clear of Brickley, with his brother Teddy in third position 15 points behind.
Race 1 – Pole sitter Jimmy Clairet sprinted at the start to take the lead, while a multiple collision a T4 involved the drivers behind him: Felice Jelmini and Marco Butti were forced to retire, Felipe Fernández fell down the order, while Gené emerged in second place and began to chase the leader. Viktor Andersson was running fourth, but was soon passed by Brickley, Teddy Clairet, Ruben Volt and Nicolas Taylor.
Up front, Jimmy Clairet controlled the pace ahead of Gené; during the last part of the race, Brickley was under pressure from Teddy Clairet, but he was able to manage the pace and finish third, while Volt retired from fifth with three laps to go.
After the race, Gené received a ten-second penalty for the incident with Jelmini and Butti, which dropped him to fifth and promoted Brickley and Teddy Clairet to second and third.
Race 2 – Max Hart started from pole position, but he was outdragged into T1 by Brickley, while Felipe Fernández had a great start from sixth on the grid and was up to third. Fernández then picked up second from Hart, while Gené’s race came to an unfortunate early end on lap 2, when he stopped with a puncture, following contact with Jelmini.
Butti was making his way through the field, passing Junui Park before the safety car was called on lap 4 following an incident between Victor Fernández and Giacomo Ghermandi. The safety car period was extended when Julien Briché briefly stopped on circuit. After the restart, Brickley began to pull away again, while Butti overtook Teddy Clairet for fourth place. The Italian moved up further as he passed Hart for third.
Brickley won by 2.1 seconds from Felipe Fernández, with Butti third.
The next event of TCR Europe will be at Spa-Francorchamps, 16/17 May.
Race 1
- Jimmy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 15 laps
- Jenson Brickley (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 3.762
- Teddy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.292
Race 2
- Jenson Brickley (Monlau Motorsport, CUPRA Leon VZ), 13 laps
- Felipe Fernández (RC2 Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 2.111
- Marco Butti (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 2.816
Championship points
- J. Clairet, 58 pts; 2. J. Brickley, 55; 3. T. Clairet, 43
Picture: TCR Europe
