Photo: TCR Italy

Jacopo Cimenes beats Nicola Baldan by 0.081 to his first pole

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Jacopo Cimenes claimed his first TCR Italy pole position during qualifying at Vallelunga, beating title contender Nicola Baldan by a slim margin.

The 20-year-old MM Motorsport driver lapped the Italian circuit in 1:39.712 seconds with his Honda Civic Type R TCR FL5, beating Audi driver Baldan by just 81 thousandths of a second.

Reigning champion Nicolas Taylor claimed third spot on the grid, 0.183 seconds from pole, while Michele Imberti was fastest of the Hyundai drivers in fourth, 0.268 seconds from Cimenes.

BRC Racing Team driver Alex Ley (Hyundai) was fifth fastest ahead of Matteo Poloni (Audi) and Gabriele Covini (Hyundai).

Polish racer Michal Bartoszuk rounded off the top eight for MM Motorsport, eight tenths from pole.

The first race of the weekend starts at 19:00 CEST tonight.