Photo: TCR Media

Last lap puncture robs Andrea Belicchi of podium result in Portugal

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Target Competition’s Andrea Belicchi was unable to make the best of his race two recovery drive where he looked set for a podium finish behind team-mate Michel Nykjaer and the WestCoast Racing Honda of Kevin Gleason after a puncture two corners from the finish saw him crawl across the line in tenth and grab a solitary point from the weekend.

The Shanghai race two winner had been involved in a pair of incidents in race one, first with team-mate Michel Nykjaer which saw Nykjaer forced to pit for repairs with front-end damage to his SEAT León Racer, and then later with Gianni Morbidelli’s Honda, which saw him drop to 12th and out of the points.

“We were struggling to stay close to the other cars because the water temperatures kept going up, so it was difficult to fight as you always had to move and couldn’t use the slipstream, so in the end you have to wait for the others mistakes,” said Belicchi to TouringCarTimes.

“At the end, Stefano was struggling with his car and I was able to pass both him and Oriola and I was safe with my third place until I got the puncture at the end.”

“In the first race, I was hit by Michel (Nykjaer) in the first corner as he was trying to defend his position and locked the tyres and hit me in the rear, so I fell to last and tried to come back and get some points, but then I had contact with Gianni Morbidelli. I tried to pass him on the inside, but he closed the door and we had contact, but that’s touring cars.”

The next round of the series is the Italian’s home race at Monza, but the SEAT drivers collectively feel the Autodromo Nazionale Monza will favour the WestCoast Racing Hondas and the Engstler Audi TTs.

“It’ll be tough because of their straight-line speed and we struggle to stay in the slipstream. The water temperature goes up to 115 degrees and then the engine power drops. In qualifying we should be OK as the car will be quite cold to start with and two-three laps in the slipstream should still be OK, but if it’s a day like this, five laps is too much.”