Victories for Barberi and Pelatti in the Coppa Italia Turismo

Competitors of the Coppa Italia Turismo's main class kicked off their season in style, sharing the grid with their Kumho FIA TCR World Tour colleagues at Vallelunga.

The first race was dominated by Filippo Barberi's Aikoa Racing Audi RS 3 LMS who took the lead at the start and consistently increased the gap up to nearly eight second by the end of the race. The reigning champion Sandro Pelatti (PMA Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS) won the battle for the second place, beating Jacopo Cimenes who had been fastest in Qualifying on his TCR debut in the MM Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FL5.

A technical issue prevented Cimenes from even taking the start in Race 2, while Barberi - who seemed to have jumped the start - collided with TCR World Tour's Sami Taoufik and retired. This enabled Victor Fernández (Auto Club RC2, Audi RS 3 LMS) to assume the lead; however, the Spaniard - who was also under investigation for the start - spun and crashed at T3 after a safety car intervention. This paved the way to Pelatti who resisted constant pressure from Demir Eröge (Aikoa Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS) and took the win, while the podium was completed by Philipp Mattersdorfer in the Duller Motorsport Opel Astra.

In separate races for the other divisions, Andrea Argenti (Team Brothers in Arms, CUPRA TCR) and Francesco Cardone (Aikoa Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS) took one victory apiece in the TCR DSG class.

Picture: WSC/Fastclick