Luigi Ferrara wins TCR Italy curtain raiser at Imola
Alfa Romeo driver Luigi Ferrara won the first TCR Italy race of the season at Imola, making a strong overtaking move on pole sitter Eric Scalvini who not long after was forced to pit due to a throttle issue.
Ferrara started second and immediately put hard pressure on Scalvini for the lead. Pit Lan Competizioni driver Nicola Baldan started second but stalled as the lights went off and dropped down to last position, later fighting his way up through the field to finish 12th.
The safety car was brought out after the first lap as Walter Margelli and Peter Gross collided, hitting the wall hard with both driver retiring with substantial damage to their cars.
As the race restarted Ferrara was right on the back of Scalvini and claimed the lead with eight minutes left of the race.
As Scalvini of BRC Racing Team pitted for repairs, Audi driver Plamen Kralev claimed second place ahead of fellow Audi driver Enrico Bettera.
The safety car was issued for a second time when Alessandro Thellung made a kamikaze move on Gabriele Volpato, resulting in a spin and retirement for both of them.
The race resumed with just one lap left, seeing Ferrara winning the by close to three seconds.
Kralev held second place until the penultimate corner when Pit Lane Competizioni driver Bettera made a late move, resulting in a spin for Kralev who got stuck in the gravel. Bettera was left in a drag race to the finish line with Cupra driver Salvatore Tavano, with the Audi driver clinging on to second place by a mere 17 thousands of a second.
Federico Paolino finished fourth in his Hyundai i30 N TCR with Portuguese driver Jose Rodrigues rounding off the top five with his Honda Civic TCR after a tough fight on the final lap with Andrea Larini who finished sixth.
Honda drivers Lorenzo Nicoli and Jürgen Schmarl rounded off the top eight.
