Niels Langeveld wins entertaining final Monza race
Niels Langeveld made it two out of two TCR Italy wins at Monza, rocketing from fifth on the grid for Race 2 to win ahead of Franco Girolami and Aurélien Comte.
Reversed grid pole sitter Junul Park made a slow start as the lights went out, instead it was MM Motorsport driver Paolo Rocca who took the lead ahead of the fast-starting Langeveld.
The Dutch Honda driver then piled the pressure on Rocca and made the move stick with 23 minutes left of the race at Lesmo 1.
Another driver on the move was Franco Girolami who started eighth, making his way up to third on the same lap as Langeveld claimed the lead by passing Cupra driver Comte.
The safety car was called into action after a hard hit between Felipe Fernàndez and Felice Jelmini at Turn 1. Fernàndez completely missed his braking point and t-boned Jelmini, resulting in a retirement for both.
The race restarted with ten minutes left on the clock and Aikoa Racing driver Girolami was able to get past Rocca as the field was let go.
Honda driver Rocca instead came under pressure from Comte and the two got involved in wheel-banging on the last lap while fighting for the final podium position.
Rocca pushed Comte onto the grass, but the SP Competition driver was nonetheless able to get past at Lesmo 1 to snatch third.
Langeveld won the race 1.4 seconds ahead of Girolami while Comte was a distant third, almost nine seconds behind.
Rocca was fourth with Marco Butti of Target Competition right on his rear bumper over the finishing line. Butti later received two five-second penalties, dropping him to 12th place.
Ruben Volt (Honda), Michele Imberti (Hyundai) and Levente Losonczy (Hyundai) rounded off the top eight. Losonczy was also hit with two post-race penalties of five seconds each, dropping him to 16th place.
Langeveld’s double win at Monza means he is the new points leader, seven points ahead of Girolami and eleven ahead of Comte.
Next up is the penultimate round of the season at Vallelunga on October 13-15.
