Summerbell wins TCR European Endurance’s second round
Senna Summerbell became the first Jamaican driver to win a TCR race when he was victorious in Round 2 of the TCR European Endurance series at the Slovakiaring. Summerbell built his success in the first leg, when his Wimmer Werk Motorsport CUPRA DSG was promoted to the first place, following a penalty handed to the BF Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS of Yuri Brigliadori and Giuseppe Cartia. Then he secured the overall victory by finishing second in the second leg behind his teammates Eric Scalvini and Salvatore Tavano.
Brigliadori has retained the lead in the standings, but Summerbell has moved closer, five points behind.
In Saturday’s first leg, the battle for the lead was between pole sitter Brigliadori and Scalvini. The race was neutralized by the safety car from the opening of the pit-stop window until the final ten minutes; at the restart Cartia and Tavano – who had replaced Brigliadori and Scalvini – resumed the fighting until Tavano’s CUPRA retired with a technical issue. Cartia went on to take the chequered flag but was given a 15-second penalty for an infringement during the safety car period and dropped to second.
Scalvini and Tavano took revenge Sunday in a wet second leg. Started from P6 on the grid, Tavano moved up to second during the first lap and then inherited the lead when Summerbell served a drive-through for jump start. With slick tyres on the front and wets on the rear of his CUPRA Leon Competición, Tavano handed the car to Scalvini with a healthy lead that his co-driver successfully defended, winning with a margin of one minute over Summerbell.
The next round will be at Pannonia Ring, on July 11/13.
Race
- S. Summerbell (Wimmer Werk Motorsport, CUPRA DSG), 43 laps
- Y. Brigliadori/G. Cartia (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 13.408
- A. Alcidi/L. Giovannoni (Tuder Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG), 1:37.084
Championship standings
- Y. Brigliadori, 136 pts; 2. S. Summerbell, 131; 3. S. Çiftçi/I. Okyay, 101
Picture: TCR European Endurance
