Stefano Comini: “It was time to win, sorry for being late!”

Stefano Comini won the first race at Imola, Italy, taking his first victory at the wheel of the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. The Swiss driver is now second in the championship, 15 points shy of Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s Pepe Oriola, and is fully back in the hunt for the crown.

“It’s amazing – sorry for being late!,” said the 2015 champion. “We did it, we have improved the car a lot with Leopard Racing and Volkswagen. I think the chassis is one of the best, and we did an incredible job with the setup, I think we could do with a little more speed on the straights, but it’s not really a problem, I don’t need a straight to overtake, I can do it in the corners!”

Despite winning the first heat, Comini enjoyed more the second race as he battled it out with his friend/rival Pepe Oriola: “The first race was a little boring, because it was a little bit lonely after the restart, but I enjoyed the second race much more. I was lucky in the first race with Morbidelli retiring. It’s the first time I fight with Pepe (Oriola) this year, and I really enjoyed it a lot. We are improving race by race, and I hope it will be the normal target to win from now on.”

With two wins in the last four races, several drivers are starting to call for a revision of the Balance of Performance. When asked by TouringCarTimes if he believed he could fight for the title after the disastrous weekend in Bahrain, Comini replied: “I wouldn’t have believed it after the first race, but we all know Leopard Racing – WRT. We know they are one of the best teams in GT3. As for the Balance of Performance, if you look at the lap times you will see there is nothing to say really. We don’t have the fastest car, it was (the fastest) in Spa-Francorchamps, but not here.”