Photo: TCR Italy

Alberto Viberti closes on Roberto Colciagi with Race 1 victory in Imola

Alberto Viberti closed the gap to Roberto Colciago in the TCR Italy championship with his third win of the season in the first race in Imola, where he led Czech driver Petr Fulín by almost three seconds across the finish line.

Viberti laid down the gauntlet after securing pole position for both of this weekend’s races, and the SEAT León Cup Racer driver converted his pole position into a comfortable win at the Imola circuit on Saturday, closing down the points gap to Roberto Colciago, who has dominated much of the first season for the TCR class in the Campionato Italiano Turismo this year.

Fulín, who’s getting practice in for next weekend’s ETCC showdown at the same circuit, while his chief rival Kris Richard is also racing in the TCR Benelux championship at Colmarberg in Luxembourg this weekend, took an easy second place, while Colciago made up a spot from fourth on the grid to finish third in his Honda Civic TCR to help limit the damage to his championship lead.

Romy Dall’antonia finished fourth his his SEAT León Cup Racer, with Marco Costamagna fifth in his SEAT, followed by Daniele Cappellari’s SEAT and Finlay Crocker’s Honda Civic.

The gap between Colciago and Viberti is down to 44 points with 65 remaining, but after dropping their two worst scores, the relative gap is actually 31, meaning Colciago will most likely need Viberti to run into trouble on Sunday in order to wrap-up the title this weekend.

Race 2 is scheduled for 15:40 CET on Sunday.