Photo: TCR Media

Roberto Colciago wins the first Bahrain race and takes points lead

Roberto Colciago won the first race of the weekend in Bahrain for M1RA. The Honda driver made the most out of a great start to jump from third to first and never looked back. Hugo Valente came second in the Craft-Bamboo SEAT, with Jean-Karl Vernay completing the podium in the Team WRT Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

At the start, pole-sitter Pierre-Yves Corthals had a poor getaway in his DG Sport Compétition Opel Astra TCR, allowing both Colciago and Valente past. Behind the duo an entertaining fight featured GE-Force team-mates Davit Kajaia and Dusan Borkovic, Vernay and James Nash in the Craft-Bamboo SEAT. A small contact with the Georgian, which is still under investigation, sent the Volkswagen driver sideways, but a great recovery allowed him to lose very little time and stay in the pack.

At the end of the first lap, Colciago led ahead of Valente, Corthals and Kajaia; as Nash, Borkovic and Vernay continued fighting in the order. However, only two laps later the Georgian slowed down to retire, leaving fourth to team-mate Dusan Borkovic, who had to defend from a charging Vernay despite some brake issues on his Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR.

Corthals’ tyres seemed to wear off towards the end of the race, meaning that with just three laps to go Borkovic was able to close the gap and attack the Belgian. A contact, which is under investigation, allowed Vernay to slip past, leaving Borkovic in fourth ahead of Corthals.

More drama came when Pepe Oriola overtook Craft-Bamboo team-mate James Nash for sixth, the Brit also coming under threat from a charging Stefano Comini in the Comtoyou Audi RS 3 LMS. WestCoast Racing team-mates Gianni Morbidelli and Giacomo Altoé completed the top ten, the former having made contact with Mat’o Homola earlier in the race, with that episode also under investigation.

Colciago now leads the championship equal on 40 points with Vernay. Kajaia is still third, a single point off the leader and equal with Pepe Oriola. Attila Tassi scored no points, having finished 12th, and stays on 32 points, ahead of Dusan Borkovic who is now 14 points off the lead.

The second race of the weekend is scheduled for tomorrow at 13.00 local time, 12.00 CET.