Photo: TCR Media

Kevin Gleason takes surprise night race win in Singapore

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WestCoast Racing’s Kevin Gleason took full advantage of a technical problem for Stefano Comini to take his second win of the season, with team-mate Gianni Morbidelli completing the podium.

At the start Comini ran away from Gleason and Morbidelli, with Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s Pepe Oriola up in fourth. Sergey Afanasyev was in fifth ahead of Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Mikhail Grachev, with Jordi Gené, Lorenzo Veglia, Loris Hezemans and Campos Racing’s Fernando Monje tenth in his Opel Astra OPC.

Morbidelli started flashing his lights to his team-mate, hoping to get past his as he resisted the chasing Pepe Oriola. Comini had opened a gap while Morbidelli’s attempts to overtake his team-mate allowed Oriola to start attacking in a more determined way.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the pack Gené was able to overtake Grachev, triggering an interesting fight between the Russian and team-mate Lorenzo Veglia, with Hezemans also in the mix. The battle included contact between the Golf and the SEAT, but both drivers were able to continue.

With just three laps to go, however, Comini surpisingly lost pace, allowing Gleason through, with Morbidelli not able to take the opportunity, instead forced to focus on an even more aggressive Oriola.

Gleason and Comini opened up a gap and the Swiss even tried to pressure the American into a mistake, but the Honda driver made it to the flag ahead of the SEAT, with Morbidelli also able to resist the pressure from Oriola and take the final podium spot.

Sergey Afanasyev came fifth ahead of team-mate Jordi Gené, with Grachev, Veglia and Hezemans finishing in the order ahead of Monje, who scored the final point available.

Luca Rangoni came 15th overall in his brand new Subaru, collecting a decent amount of data and, most importantly, bringing the car home in one piece.

Comini brings his points advantage up to eight from Oriola, with Gené 37 points off the lead and Morbidelli a further four behind.

Action resumes tomorrow for the final race of the weekend at 16:35 local time.