Taylor, Covini and Babuin hit with post-race penalties

Nicolas Taylor, Gabriele Covini and Denis Babuin have been hit with post-race penalties after the first TCR Italy race of the weekend at Imola.

Reining champion Taylor was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage at the Variante Alta while fighting for third place with Covini.

Taylor remains in second place however as Matteo Poloni was more than five seconds behind him in third place.

Pole-sitter Covini was also handed a five-second penalty, in this instance for hitting Pietro Alessi while fighting for fourth place on the final lap.

The penalty drops Covini from fourth to ninth place.

Denis Babuin finished the race in sixth place but was handed a five-second penalty for hitting points leader Nicola Baldan, dropping him down to tenth place while Baldan is elevated from ninth to seventh place.