Maiden win for Stefanovski, as Brigliadori retakes the points lead

Igor Stefanovski claimed his maiden victory in TCR Italy as he made good use of the pole position on the reversed grid and led Vallelunga’s Race 2 from lights to flag.
While the Macedonian was able to pull away, behind him there was a tough battle for the other positions that involved the MM Motorsport trio of Alessandro Giardelli, Jacopo Guidetti and Massimiliano Mugelli with Eric Brigliadori and Marco Pellegrini.
Eventually Giardelli encored his second place in yesterday’s Race 1 with Brigliadori third; however, the latter was dropped to tenth by a 20-second penalty and so Guidetti inherited third place.
Despite the penalty, Brigliadori retook the leadership in the standings, five points clear of Salvatore Tavano that was pushed off at the start by his teammate Simone Pellegrinelli. As for the other title contenders: Marco Pellegrini was classified fourth and reduced his gap from the leader to 6 points only, while Felice Jelmini spun and retired.
At the start, Stefanovski led from Guidetti, Mugelli and Jelmini; behind them Pellegrinelli and Tavano made contact at the Curvone and the latter went off and retired. 
In lap 1, Giardelli took the inside of Jelmini at the hairpin and passed him for P4; Jelmini retook the position in the following lap, but then spun off and retired.
While Stefanovski built a gap, Brigliadori began chasing the Honda trio of Guidetti, Mugelli and Giardelli. In lap 5, Brigliadori passed Giardelli, but then punted Mugelli’s car into a spin; an incident that will later cost him the penalty.
The fight for P2 heated up even further as Guidetti, Giardelli, Brigliadori and Pellegrini were running abreast. Giardelli passed Guidetti for P2 in lap 10 and then Brigliadori too overtook Guidetti for P3 in lap 12. 
During the final laps, Brigliadori tried in vain to close the gap to Giardelli, while Guidetti put in a great defensive drive to defend fourth from the assaults of Pellegrini.
TCR Italy will now face a six-week break before resuming at Monza on November 6/8.

Race 2
1. Igor Stefanovski (Stefanovski Racing, Hyundai i30 N), 16 laps
2. Alessandro Giardelli (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 9.218
3. Jacopo Guidetti (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 15.075
4. Marco Pellegrini (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 16.562
5. Ettore Carminati (CRM Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 18.473

Championship points
1. Eric Brigliadori 115 pts; 2. Salvatore Tavano 110; 3. Marco Pellegrini 108 
 

Picture: ACI Sport