Gabriele Covini claims pole in tight qualifying at Misano
BRC Racing Team driver Gabriele Covini (Hyundai) scored his second pole position of the year in qualifying at Misano, host of the sixth and final round of the 2025 TCR Italy season.
Hyundai drivers Alex Ley and Covini, as well as Audi driver Nicola Baldan, had their first flying laps deleted due to track limits infringements.
Reigning champion Nicolas Taylor and Michele Imberti battled for the top spot for most of the session.
But it would be Covini who, with five minutes left on the clock, would rise to pole with a lap time of 1:39.784, beating Imberti by less than one-tenth of a second.
Cupra driver Cosimo Barberini was third, 0.291 seconds behind the pole-sitter.
Taylor could only manage fourth place, three-tenths behind Covini, with Pietro Alessi (Audi) in fifth place, six-tenths off the pace.
Ley finished the session in seventh place, with his team-manager called to Race Control due to an incident with Denis Babuin (Audi).
Audi drivers Filippo Barbieri, Mateo Poloni and Baldan followed, with the series’ leader one second off the pace.
Honda driver Marco Pellegrini completed the top ten, 1.098 seconds behind Covini.
With the qualifying session concluded, Taylor overtakes Baldan in the championship lead with 374 points, just two more than the Audi driver. Poloni and Ley are tied in third, 81 points behind.
The TCR Italy field returns to the track on Saturday morning for Race 1, scheduled for 11:40 CEST.
