Pepe Oriola unhappy with Stefano Comini after race one incident

Championship protagonists Pepe Oriola and Stefano Comini came together in race one in Portimao, which saw the Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver unable to finish the race, robbing the Spaniard of the opportunity to close the gap to the Swiss driver in the standings.

Comini had run wide in the Target Competition SEAT León on lap seven at Turn 2, which allowed Oriola to move ahead and into fourth position after a race-long battle between the pair. However, when Comini rejoined the circuit, he made contact with the WestCoast Racing Honda of Gianni Morbidelli and spun, collecting Oriola’s SEAT at Turn 3 which saw Oriola’s car sustain damage with which he was unable to finish the race.

“He was outside of the track limits all of the time,” said Oriola to TouringCarTimes. “On the straight my car was a little bit faster in the slipstream, and I went to the inside every time and tried to overtake and he’d just go outside of the track limits and take the position back.

“On my last try, I got ahead but he came back on and hit Morbidelli and then crashed into me which destroyed my race and Morbidelli’s race, and he’s not got no penalty which is disappointing.”

Comini however placed the blame squarely at Morbidelli’s door. “Morbidelli didn’t give me the space to return on to the track,” he told TouringCarTimes. “I think this wasn’t my fault it was just a race contact.”

With Oriola not finishing race one and Comini not finishing race two, but with Oriola scoring points in qualifying and a higher finish in race two, the Spanish driver now moves up to second in the standings and is now just 12 points behind Comini heading to the next round at Monza.