Photo: Team Novadriver

Armando Parente wins season opener at Braga

Team Novadriver’s Armando Parente won the first race of the 2018 TCR Portugal series at Braga’s Circuito Vasco Sameiro ahead of Cupra driver Pedro Salvador and Audi driver Francisco Carvalho.

Pole-sitter Francisco Mora, driving a Cupra TCR, retired on the first lap after a collision with reigning champion Francisco Abreu.

The incident forced the safety car on track to clear Mora’s car, with Salvador putting hard pressure on Parente for the lead as the race resumed but not being able to get past.

Parente, who started from third on the grid, crossed the finishing line first in his Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR, beating Speedy Motorsport’s Salvador by just over a second and Carvalho in third by just over two seconds.

Gustavo Moura took his Audi RS 3 LMS to fourth after starting from the back of the grid, as the Portuguese driver was unable to take part in yesterday’s qualifying session due to a technical issue.

Abreu finished fifth in his Peugeot 308TCR after the first-lap incident with Mora, ahead of Joaquim Santos, SEAT, in sixth and Manuel Giao in seventh in the sole Kia Cee’d TCR of the series.

Race 2 is scheduled for 15:10 CET.