Photo: TCR Media

Stefano Comini takes first win of the season at Spa-Francorchamps

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Stefano Comini gave Audi their first win in the TCR International Series after starting from pole position. The defending champion came home ahead of Honda’s Benjamin Lessennes, with Attila Tassi completing the podium in his M1RA Civic TCR.

At the start the Hungarian teenager had actually taken the lead thanks to a great start, with stable-mate Lessennes right behind him. Comini, who was in third ahead of team-mate Frédéric Vervisch, quickly overtook the local driver and launched himself in the hunt of Tassi. On the second lap the Swiss pulled off a clean and spectacular move on the Hungarian, taking the lead to never look back.

Tassi was still in the middle of the action though, as fellow Honda driver Lessennes overtook him with a similar move at Les Combes, while Vervisch was holding fourth despite the attacks from WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay. The Volkswagen driver managed to pass after some rubbing, also triggering more action behind them as Tom Coronel overtook Edouard Mondron and attacked Rob Huff, who was in fifth. Vernay passed at the end of the second sector, and in the subsequent mayhem Coronel ended up in the grass, slipping down to ninth behind Craft-Bamboo’s Pepe Oriola.

There was more action as the top position settled, with Vernay closing the gap to Tassi and Huff desperately attacking Vervisch with little success, having to look out for Mondron behind him. Coronel regained the place over Oriola, while James Nash completed the top ten. Despite some spectacular efforts, Vernay couldn’t overtake Tassi who pulled off a perfect defensive drive to finish on the podium.

The race was not over, though, as Pierre-Yves Corthals made up ground from the middle of the grid and managed to overtake Nash for tenth, thus entering the points-awarding zone. A tap on 9th-placed Oriola at the Bus Stop meant the SEAT driver lost a piece of his rear bumper, which ended up puncturing Ferenc Ficza’s left rear tyre just on the finish line.

Comini won the first International Series race for Audi, the Comtoyou driver leading home Benjamin Lessennes and Attila Tassi. Vernay was a good fourth ahead of Vervisch and Huff. Edouard Mondron went no further than seventh despite attacking for the whole race, finishing ahead of Coronel, Oriola and Corthals.

Jean-Karl Vernay still leads the championship on 66 points, with some three drivers equal on 51 in second place. Stefano Comini’s 30 points coming from today’s pole position and his win lift him up to second, equal on points with double podium-scored Attila Tassi and GE-Force’s Dusan Borkovic, while Roberto Colciago is a further point behind for M1RA.

Race 2 is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:35 local time.