Photo: TCR Italy

Barberini claims Mugello finale pole ahead of points leader Imberti

By

Cosimo Barberini claimed pole position for the TCR Italy season finale at Mugello ahead of points leader Michele Imberti.

Cupra driver Barberini secured pole with a lap time of 1:55.360, beating Imberti, who has switched to the newer Elantra EV N TCR model this weekend, by 0.149 seconds.

The Aikoa Racing duo of Paolo Rocca and Giacomo Prandelli claimed third and fourth with their pair of Audi RS 3 LMS race cars, three and five tenths of a second behind respectively.

Marco Pellegrini was fifth fastest for Honda team MM Motorsport but will start seventh due to a three-place grid penalty for a colission with Sandro Pelatti during the previous race meeting.

That penalty elevates title candidate Matteo Poloni to fifth place on the grid, but he will still face a tough task tomorrow.

The Audi driver trails points leader Imberti by 27 points, meaning that Imberti can secure the title in Race 1 if he finishes where he starts and is ahead of Poloni.

Carlo Alberto Bocca (Audi) and Sandro Pelatti (Cupra) rounded off the top eight.

The first race of the weekend starts at 11:00 CET on Saturday.