Alex Ley sprints to victory in Imola opener
Alex Ley converted second place on the grid to victory in the first TCR Italy race of the weekend at Imola.
Ley’s BRC Racing team-mate Gabriele Covini started from pole but was beaten into turn one by Cupra driver Cosimo Barberini who made a strong start from third on the grid.
But Barberini was in the lead for about one corner until Ley was able to get past after a strong start while his team-mate Covini dropped down to third.
Points leader Nicolas Taylor (Audi) made a strong start from sixth on the grid to fourth after the first couple of corners.
The Canadian driver then put hard pressure on Covini, with the duo going side-by-side for several corners before Taylor managed to snatch third.
Covini lost momentum after the battle and dropped down to fifth behind Audi driver Matteo Poloni.
Rain started to fall on the opening lap while the sun was still shining on the track, something that resulted in several cars going wide and dragged gravel onto the track.
This saw the safety car head out on to the track while the marshals cleared the gravel.
The race resumed with 18 minutes left on the clock and soon after the restart there was trouble for Cupra driver Barberini who slowed down while in third place due to a technical issue and retired from the race.
Covini made a mistake with three minutes left of the race was was passed by BF Motorsport driver Pietro Alessi (Audi).
Covini put in a late attack on Alessi in the fight for fourth place on the last lap at the Tosa corner, resulting in contact and a half-spin for Alessi who dropped down to fifth.
Ley won the race with a margin of four seconds over Taylor while Poloni was a distant third, 12 seconds from the race winner.
Covini finished fourth ahead of Alessi and Denis Babuin. The MM Motorsport Honda duo of Jacopo Cimenes and Michal Bartoszuk rounded off the top eight.
Points leader Nicola Baldan was involved in the mid-field fight throughout the race to finish ninth.
The second race starts at 09:00 CEST on Sunday.
