Pepe Oriola wins Race 2 in Georgia, subject to post-race investigation

Pepe Oriola and Hugo Valente scored a 1-2 result for Craft-Bamboo Racing in the second race of the day at the Rustavi circuit in Georgia, but the two driver’s overtake on WestCoast Racing’s Giacomo Altoè on the first lap is under investigation.

The drama continued after Race 1, following the post-race incident between Comtoyou Audi’s Stefano Comini and Team WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay, the new Audi team faced a race against time to change the Swiss driver’s radiator to get him out to take his fifth place on the grid. The team managed to get the repairs complete with less than a minute to spare, but Comini then stopped in the gravel on the out lap, and was forced to start from the pit lane in any case.

At the start of the race, WestCoast Racing’s Giacomo Altoè held on to the lead from pole position ahead of the two Craft-Bamboo SEATs of Pepe Oriola and Hugo Valente.

Attila Tassi slid his M1RA Honda into the first corner and was nearly collected by WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay, but both continued without incident.

An incident into Turn 1 between DG Sport Opel driver Mat’o Homola and GE-Force’s Shota Abkhazava saw Homola’s Astra TCR buried in the gravel, causing the officials to deploy the safety car.

Near the end of the lap, Oriola and Valente pounced on 16-year-old Altoè’s Volkswagen and swooped into the lead, but the move is subject to an investigation, as it may have occurred under yellow flags.

At the restart, Tassi was able to pass Altoè’s Volkswagen on the straight, with the Italian soon sliding off the circuit and falling down the order.

Jean-Karl Vernay was now promoted to fourth, while most of the drama for the rest of the race took place from fifth place downwards, with Dusan Borkovic having worked his way up to fifth in the GE-Force Alfa, but fighting throughout the race with Craft-Bamboo’s James Nash, Zele’s Ferenc Ficza and M1RA’s Roberto Colciago.

Nash made a move on Borkovic and was briefly up to fifth on lap 11, before Colciago dive-bombed down the inside, with Nash having to take avoiding action, with Borkovic and Ficza passing the pair of them.

Nash and Colciago would later repass Ficza and close on Borkovic. As Colciago passed Ficza, the Italian was hit in the rear by the Hungarian, with Ficza stopping at Turn 1, bringing out the yellow flags at Turn 1.

On the final lap, Colciago snatched sixth from Nash with a pass down the inside at Turn 1, which is also under investigation due to the yellow flags out for Ficza’s car.

Stefano Comini had worked his way up to 11th, but then stopped after six laps in his Audi RS 3 and picked up no points from the second race.

Georgia’s Davit Kajaia now leaves his home country with the lead of the drivers’ standings, with Pepe Oriola just three points behind and Attila Tassi five points back, heading to the next round of the championship in Bahrain in two weeks’ time.