Photo: Jacques Letihon Photographe

Stefano Comini delighted with results at Spa, though warns International will be tougher

By

Stefano Comini took a perfect score in his two sprint race runs at Spa-Francorchamps in the TCR Benelux series, winning Race 1 from fifth on the grid, and Race 2 from pole, and leaves the circuit with the lead of the championship, while his co-driver Sheldon van der Linde will take over the car this afternoon.

Comini fought the Opel Astra TCR of Belgium’s Fred Caprasse during the first race for the lead, even though the Opel had picked up a five-second penalty for a false start, while he led the way throughout Race 2, holding off former Team WRT team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay for all eight laps.

“I did Eau Rouge quite flat out at the start, and in these conditions when it’s cold it’s great, as you need to be good to be able warm up the tyres and get the right balance of the car,” said Comini to TouringCarTimes. “I overtook the #2 Honda with two wheels on the grass, and they told me the (leading) Opel had a five second penalty but I didn’t care, I just wanted to pass and give some excitement to the people here.”

The Audi still carries 45kg of Balance of Performance weight this weekend, which hasn’t caused a massive hindrance to their performance, with the RS 3 LMS also winning just a few hours earlier at Zhuhai in the TCR Asia Series.

“It’s difficult to manage with this weight, as the tyres are going down the whole time. Comtoyou gave me a perfect car, and I need to thank Jean-Michel Baert, my team manager. We did an amazing job in no time; I hope it’ll be the same here in two weeks. I don’t think it will be as easy, but we’ll fight.

“I love this track, I love Eau Rouge,” added a happy Comini. “I hope to put the onboard camera on YouTube, as it’s so much fun to drive here.”

Comini and co-driver van der Linde presently lead the drivers’ standings, with van der Linde starting the next race from the front row – despite that they’re only entered for this round of the series.

“I don’t know if Comtoyou want to do this championship, but if some other team want to do it, I’m here!,” he added.