Valverde wins twice and closes in on TCR Panama title

Emilio Valverde has claimed another pair of victories in TCR Panama’s penultimate race meeting. At the wheel of his CHM Motorsports Hyundai Elantra N the Costa Rican driver disposed of pole sitter Rodrigo Pflucker during the opening lap of Race 1 and then overtook the early leader Sebastián Ng after a long safety car period in the night second race.

These results helped Valverde to stretch his lead in the standings to 63 points over Mario Bárcenas, when 75 are still on offer in the season finale that will take place on October 25/26.

Race 1 – In a wet qualifying, series newcomer Sebastián Guerra had been fastest in his Chocrón Motorsport Hyundai Veloster N, beating Pflucker and Valverde by four tenths; however, he was excluded for underweight. Pflucker sprinted from the pole, but he was passed by Valverde and Luis Ramírez into T1. The top three pulled away, while Ng overtook Bárcenas for P4. Halfway through the race, Ramírez retired in lap 9, while Ng and Bárcenas continued their battle until Ng made a mistake in lap 12 and dropped to fifth behind Carlos Rubén Herrera.

In lap 16, Maximiliano Schubert and Sergio Solís collided while fighting for P6; the safety car was deployed and then racing resumed for the final lap, but positions did not change and Valverde beat Pflucker by eight tenths, with Bárcenas completing the podium.

Race 2 – In the floodlight, Ng and Herrera shared the front row of the reversed grid. Ng led the field at the start ahead of Valverde who sprinted from P6 on the grid; behind them Bárcenas spun while negotiating T1 and further down the field Michael Solís and Schubert collided again. With Schubert’s Audi stopped at the outside of T1, the safety car was deployed from lap 3 to lap 9. When the race restarted, Argentine guest driver Damián Fineschi overtook Herrera for P3 and one lap later, Valverde took the lead diving to the inside of Ng into the last turn. Valverde pulled away and claimed his second win of the day, with Ng and Fineschi joining him on the podium, while Pflucker overtook Herrera to finish fourth. Bárcenas, who had recovered to sixth after his early spin, spun again at T1 and dropped to ninth.

Race 1

1. Emilio Valverde (CHM Motorsports, Hyundai Elantra N), 19 laps
2. Rodrigo Pflucker (TZ Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 0.861
3. Mario Bárcenas (Bárcenas Racing, CUPRA Leon VZ), 1.730

Race 2

1. Emilio Valverde (CHM Motorsports, Hyundai Elantra N), 16 laps
2. Sebastián Ng (AP Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 1.100
3. Damián Fineschi (Hyundai Petroautos, Hyundai Elantra N), 4.987

Championship points

1. E. Valverde, 246 pts; 2. M. Bárcenas, 183; 3. S. Ng, 156

Picture: TCR Panama