Nicolas Taylor dominates Misano opener

Nicolas Taylor kicked off the defence of his TCR Italy title in fine style with a dominant victory from pole in the opening race of the campaign at Misano.

Taylor held the lead when the race kicked off ahead of fellow front-row starter Alex Ley, with Matteo Poloni slotting into third spot in his Audi.

Further back however there were issues for multiple drivers as they failed to get way off the line, including Marco Pellegrini’s Honda and the Hyundai of Gabriele Covini, although all would manage to get moving.

Taylor immediately started to scamper away at the front as Ley came under pressure for second spot from Poloni, who managed to find a way ahead of the young Briton on lap two – who then had Denis Babuin and Nicola Baldan fixed onto his tail.

Ley was unable to keep the pair behind as they both swept ahead of the Hyundai, which was clearly struggling for pace in the early stages of the race and was also overhauled by Pietro Alessi’s Audi.

As Taylor continued to lead the way, the big battles were taking place in the lower reaches of the top ten, with Filippo Maria Zanin, Damiano Reduzzi and Filippo Barberi clashing whilst dicing for position – resulting in both Reduzzi and Barberi being forced into the pits.

In the fight for the podium spots, Babuin had Baldan and Pietro on his tail, with Pietro diving down the inside of Baldan into turn one to grab fourth just as word came through of a ten second penalty for Babuin for a false start that dropped him down the order.

Ley held on to a spot inside the top six until the ninth lap when he slowed with a front left puncture, which moved Michele Imberti into sixth as the leading driver at the wheel of anything other than an Audi.

Taylor edged his way clear of Poloni at the front to score a comfortable win by more than six seconds, with the fight for third being the one that would rage through to the finish – on the road at least – between Babuin, Alessi and Baldan.

In the closing minutes, Babuin was able to gap the battling pair behind as Baldan tried to find a way ahead of Alessi but he was unable to find a way through despite putting a wheel off track on more than one occassion.

Alessi held on to take third spot once Babuin’s penalty had been applied, with Baldan in fourth and Imberti in fifth having found himself running alone on track for much of the race.

Babuin would end up classified in sixth once his ten second penalty had been applied, ahead of Zanin, Jacopo Cimenes, Carlo Bocca and Covini – who recovered well from his issue at the start to round out the top ten.