Photo: ACI Sport

Nicola Baldan wins high-attrition second race at Monza

Newly-crowned champion Nicola Baldan finished the TCR Italy season on a high, as the Pit Lane Competizioni driver won after clinching the title earlier today. The SEAT driver finished behind Giacomo Altoè’s Audi on track, but the teenager was given a 5-second penalty due to an overtake beyond track limits at the start. Max Mugelli completed the podium in the Pit Lane Competizioni Audi.

At the start Altoè took the lead ahead of Baldan, as behind them a contact between Volkswagen’s Massimiliano Gagliano and Honda’s Eric Scalvini ended up in the Golf GTI TCR spinning on the grass and hitting Luigi Ferrara’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR. A domino-effect collision also eliminated Cosimo Barberini and damaged BF Motorsport’s Giuseppe Montalbano’s SEAT.

An entertaining duel started between Altoè and Subaru’s Stefano Comini, just like in the first race, with the Top Run driver following the Veneto-based teenager closely. After the first-lap carnage Baldan opened a gap to team-mate Mugelli, as Jordi Gené followed closely in his SEAT. An entertaining fight between Honda’s Davide Nardilli, Opel’s Kevin Giacon and SEAT’s Alessandro Thellung was cut short by an apparent overheating issue for the Corsa TCR.

The leaves from the trees of Monza were obstructing the flow of cool air for several cars, which meant Gené and Thellung both had to make a pit stop to clear the ducts from the dead leaves. The two were close out of the pits and made contact at Ascari with five laps to go, which left Thellung stuck in the gravel and Gené forced to go back to the pits.

With three laps to go Comini had a front left suspension failure at Parabolica, which forced him back into the pits and left Baldan in second, the Veneto-based driver taking advantage of Altoè’s penalty to win. Max Mugelli completed the podium ahead of Nardilli, as two TCT cars were fifth and sixth outright, with Emiliano Perucca Orfei finishing ahead of Pasquale Notarnicola’s twin Peugeot 308 MI16.

Kevin Giacon was seventh after having to make a pit stop, the Opel driver coming home ahead of Eric Scalvini, who had to take a drive through penalty for the collision he was involved in at the start of the race. TCT driver Giovanni Mancini was ninth ahead of Montalbano, who was classified tenth despite having to retire due to the consequences of the first-corner collision.