Photo: ACI Sport

Valentina Albanese claims first TCR Italian title

Valentina Albanese clinched the Campionato Italiano Turismo Endurance outright at the wheel of a SEAT León Racer, the first title SEAT have claimed in Italy since Roberto Colciago won the same championship in 2009.

A works effort put in by SEAT Motorsport Italia, helped in its final phase by TCR International Series star Jordi Gené, meant Albanese was able to win the outright championship in Race 1 at Mugello this weekend.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, the new Italian champion said: “I still can’t believe I won the championship, but what I can say is that it’s incredible for us to get back to competition and win straight away with the León Racer. It makes me very proud, also because I put a lot of trust in the SEAT brand by sticking to it despite there being no works project, I knew that a competitive car would be back and we would be able to be competitive. I gave a lot of trust and received it back from SEAT, so at this point we can say it is a good marriage and it has to continue!”

Looking on to next year, the Italian champion is eager to defend her title with SEAT in the new Italian Touring Car Championship: “I believe the TCR rules are the future of touring car racing, as the cars are good looking, they perform well and are relatively cheap to manage on track. I’m sure that next year there will be a lot more cars and the championship will be tighter, and I will always be available for SEAT and their plans in the future.”

Albanese also praised the presence of Jordi Gené, admitting he was a tough benchmark to have within the team in terms of performance, but also a very motivating help: “It was great to work with Jordi, I already knew him and he is a fantastic person, as well as a great champion on track, and he is what I would like to represent for SEAT in Italy. Of course, when I was told he would come aboard for Misano and Mugello, I knew I was going to have an incredible benchmark, and being able to be as competitive as he was gave me a lot of self trust and an extra motivation to finally clinch the title.”

Jordi Genè Guerrero(Seat Motorsport Italia,Seat Leon Racer-TCR #103)

Jordi Gené also played his part by making sure Valentina Albanese had a supportive team-mate in her title bid. “As a person she (Albanese) is a fantastic girl with a lot of competitive spirit in everything she does,” said the Spaniard. “In terms of driving I think she deserved the title because she is fast and has made no mistakes, and motorsport being a men’s world, it adds to her merit in what she accomplished. I’m very happy to have played my part in this fantastic achievement.”

Gené also talked about the environment in which he drove, which is different compared to the TCR International Series: “CITE is a nice championship altogether, and SEAT are very committed to these events as they also have the local León and Ibiza one-make series, which makes it a big weekend, together with the Italian GT championship.”

SEAT Italia director Gianpiero Wyhinny was also present on the scene, being a racing driver himself in the Ibiza Cup. “I am absolutely delighted as you can imagine,” said Wyhinny to TouringCarTimes. “Coming back to touring cars after a break of quite a few years with a fantastic car and, more importantly, with a fantastic driver made it all possible. Being SEAT we do things a little differently, so to have the only female driver winning the championship adds even more flavour to the success we have achieved. It has been a great showcase to demonstrate how the SEAT technology performs as the León racer has a bit more horsepower and some developement, but a lot of what you see comes directly from the road-going Cupra counterpart. Hopefully we will build on this success.”

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Talking about next year’s TCR-based championship in Italy, Wyhinny said: “We welcome competition, so having a championship where various manufacturers enter with competitive cars and drivers will lift the whole image and level of the championship. Italy is one of those markets which has been there in the past, and we are looking very seriously into our plans for next year. Hopefully, like I said, we will be able to build on this fantastic achievement.”

Plans for next year are yet to be decided, but with as many as two one-make series organized by SEAT Motorsport Italia, the director praised the setup of the Spanish brand’s motorsport programme: “We would like to continue with this ‘SEAT village’ setup which allows younger drivers to climb up the motorsport ladder with SEAT, with the Ibiza Cup and the León Cup, so we would like to continue in the TCR as well in order to keep this stairway up to professionalism. We have a number of fantastic drivers in our one-make series, but if I had to choose one I would leave it up to the professionalism of SEAT Motorsport Italia. It is a question we may face next year, who would deserve a drive in the TCR championship, but (SEAT Motorsport Italia director) Tarcisio Bernasconi is far better equipped than I am to express a view on that. We would also take Valentina (Albanese)’s view into consideration as well.”

SEAT Motorsport Italia clinched the outright crown of the Campionato Italiano Turismo Endurance at Mugello on Saturday, with a 1-2 led by Albanese. On Sunday Gené won the race, with Albanese finishing fourth.