Salvatore Tavano takes championship lead with win and podium at Mugello

Salvatore Tavano took the championship lead away from V-Action’s Luigi Ferrara, who endured a torrid weekend at Mugello. The Cupra driver won the first heat, finishing third in the second race and therefore taking the championship lead by 8.5 points from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Ferrara had taken an early lead in the first race after starting from fourth, but he started struggling with tyres and finally punctured his radiator, which forced him to retire from the race. This triggered an entertaining fight between Tavano and defending champion Nicola Baldan, who was second by as little as 0.043s from Baldan, with Eric Scalvini completing the podium in his BRC Hyundai.

Tyre issues plagued the entire field, so much that the second race was shortened to 20 minutes + 1 lap. The race only lasted five corners for Honda driver José Rodrigues, who hit a kerb too hard while fighting with Cupra’s Matteo Greco, which sent him into a spin after which he beached himself into the gravel, as Scalvini also took a trip to the outside while taking avoiding action.

At the restart Federico Paolino, who was on pole position due to the reversed grid, lost the lead to Edoardo Cappello. The Otto Motorsport driver never looked back after that, despite pressure late in the race from Baldan, who had charged to second after a good fight with Greco, with Tavano a rather distant third. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta just managed to stay ahead of the Hyundai i30 N TCR. Scalvini managed to finish ninth despite his incident early in the race, as Ferrara failed to score points as he finished 13th, despite a good drive from 22nd.

TCR Italy will be back on track at Imola on July, 29th, the last race before the summer break.