Roberto Colciago wins the first race at Mugello in TCR Italy
Roberto Colciago took another win in his AGS Honda Civic TCR. The Italian made the most out of a poor start from BRC Racing’s Alberto Viberti, who finished second ahead of Pit Lane Competizioni’s Enrico Bettera.
At the start, Emanuele Alborghetti stalled his Honda Civic TCR on the grid, as Viberti also had a troubled start. As a result, Colciago was able to jump up into the lead and never looked back. Viberti briefly lost second to Bettera, but quickly took the place back while VFR Racing’s Finlay Crocker also looked in contention for the podium in the early stages in his Honda Civic TCR.
An accident involving a TCS class car, driven by Sandro Pelatti, caused a shunt. BRC Racing’s Mariano Costamagna was being attacked by a recovering Alborghetti while Pelatti, despite being in different class, closed the door on Costamagna. The SEAT driver had to take avoiding action, which resulted with Alborghetti powerless to do anything to avoid hitting the BRC Racing car. The Honda crashed into the wall quite violently and the safety car was deployed. Pelatti subsequently received a drive-through penalty for dangerous driving.
At the restart, Viberti stayed close to Colciago with nine minutes to go, but the former STCC champion was flying, consistently quicker than Viberti by three-tenths to half-a-second a lap. Colciago therefore managed to open up a gap, while Samuele Piccin managed to overtake fellow SEAT driver Daniele Cappellari for fifth, which was the only post-safety car buzz.
Colciago won the race ahead of Viberti and Bettera, with Crocker finishing a positive fourth on his debut. Piccin finished fifth ahead of Cappellari, just pipping BRC Racing’s Mariano Costamagna to sixth. Luigi Bamonte came home eighth in the MM Motorsport SEAT, ahead of Citroën’s Gianluca Mauriello and TCS class winner Alberto Bassi in the León ST Cupra.
Next up for TCR Italy is Race 2, scheduled for 11.00 CET on Sunday.
