Photo: ACI Sport

Salvatore Tavano claims last gasp pole position at Imola

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Scuderia del Girasole driver Salvatore Tavano claimed the pole position for the fifth round of the 2021 TCR Italy season at Imola, after besting ALM Motorsport’s Volt Ruben (Honda Civic Type-R TCR) and Target Competition’s Nicola Baldan (Hyundai i30 N TCR) with just a few seconds left to go in the session.

Tavano set a fastest lap time of 1:50.592, beating Ruben by 0.108 seconds and Baldan by 0.342.

Michele Imberti, driving Cupra Leon Competición from Scuderia del Girasole, qualified in fourth place, 0.441 seconds behind his team-mate, despite having a lap time deleted for exceeding the track limits.

Dusan Kouril took the K2 Engine’s Hyundai i30 N TCR to fifth place, 0.493 seconds off the pace, beating the second Honda Civic Type R TCR from ALM Motorsport, driven by Mattias Vathel.

Kevin Ceccon could only manage to qualify in seventh place at the wheel of the Hyundai i30 N TCR from Aggressive Team, with Matteo Poloni securing eighth place.

Championship leader Antti Buri qualified in ninth place for Target Competition, with Sandro Soubek, driving an Audi RS 3 LMS, completing the top ten, 1.436 seconds behind Tavano.

Eric Brigliadori of BF Motorsport, who sustained heavy damage during the last round at Imola, only completed one flying lap at the end of the session, qualifying in 20th place for both races.

The start of Race 1 is scheduled for 17:00 CEST on Saturday afternoon.