Scamardi and Fournier are the winners in TC France opener
The FFSA TC France series kicked off at Nogaro with the traditional Coupes de Pâques; Giovanni Scamardi and Raphaël Fournier emerged as the race winners. The Belgian driver scored three wins in his SP Compétition CUPRA Leon VZ, while Fournier, on his TCR debut, won Race 3 on Eastern Monday morning at the wheel of the Hyundai Elantra N run by JSB Compétition.
A pile up at the start of the first race nearly halved the TCR field, eliminating the CUPRA Leon cars of Pierre Bredeaux, the pole sitter, and Tom Pussier plus Franck Salvi’s Hyundai Elantra. After the safety car intervention, Scamardi led the race keeping Fournier at bay until the end.
In a wet second race, Scamardi and Fournier started from the front row and encored, finishing first and second again, with Scamardi rejecting Fournier’s assaults during the last lap.
On Monday morning, Scamardi and Fournier resumed their fight in Race 3. The Belgian driver led from the pole, but in lap 5 Fournier overtook him, with team principal Julien Briché following to take the second place, which is how they took the chequered flag when the race finished behind the safety car. However, Briché was later excluded for using a wrong set of tyres.
In the fourth race, Scamardi led from the start once again, but by lap 9 Fournier and Bredeaux were right behind him when the safety car was deployed. Racing resumed with five minutes to go but only for half a lap as another crash forced the safety car back on track until the end.
The series will resume at Dijion-Prenois on May 9/11.
Championship points
- G. Scamardi, 46.5 pts; 2. R. Fournier, 40; 3. G. Chauvin, 27.
Picture: SRO
