Salvatore Tavano takes Imola win to extend points lead

Salvatore Tavano won the second race at Imola, the SEAT Motorsport Italia driver finishing ahead of Race Republic’s Luca Rangoni in the Subaru WRX STi and fellow Cupra driver Matteo Greco. Tavano’s lead in the championship from V-Action’s Luigi Ferrara is now up to 38.5 points as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR finished ninth after starting from 16th.

At the start reversed-grid pole sitter Francesco Savoia stayed in the lead in his DSG-equipped Cupra, although that was short-lived as the Apulia-based driver lost three places in the first sector to Tavano, Rangoni and Greco. The leading trio immediately started to open a gap from the rest of the field, as Jürgen Schmarl stepped up to fourth ahead of MM Motorsport’s Max Mugelli and Pit Lane Competizioni team-mates Enrico Bettera and Andrea Larini, with Savoia down in eighth.

A safety car was called out as Adriano Bernazzani suffered from a failure in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR, spilling oil out on track at Piratella. The track was cleaned up and the race restarted with six minutes to go, but South Italy Racing’s Andrea Argenti spun at Rivazza 1, which triggered another safety car.

The race restarted with just one lap to go, and Tavano resisted pressure from Rangoni and team-mate Greco, who finished a remarkable third in his DSG-equipped Cupra. Despite pulling off an incredibly brave pass for fourth at the restart on Larini, Savoia eventually slipped down to eighth, with the Tuscany-based driver finishing fourth ahead of Massimiliano Gagliano in the DSG Cupra. Race 1 winner Enrico Bettera finished sixth after making contact with Edoardo Cappello’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta at the restart, as Schmarl finished seventh ahead of Savoia.

After picking up a penalty yesterday and starting 16th, Ferrara had made up ground before the first safety car, but a front right puncture forced him to stop in the pit lane. Despite this, the Apulia-based driver managed to finish ninth after charging through the field at both restarts. Federico Paolino completed the top ten in his BRC Hyundai i30 N TCR after a great drive from 18th on the grid.

TCR Italy will resume after the summer break at Vallelunga on September, 16th.