NEIL HUDSON
TCR WORLD TOUR VALLELUNGA (ITA)
20-21 APRIL
ROUND 1/7
Hyundai Motorsport’s BRC Racing Team customer squad took pole and won both races with its newly upgraded Elantra N TCR at Vallelunga, with reigning champion Norbert Michelisz converting pole to victory in race one, before new signing Nestor Girolami turned the reversed-grid pole to a race two win.
Michelisz left it until the final moment in qualifying to pull out a time 0.2 seconds clear of Lynk & Co Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher to snatch pole, which the Frenchman said he’d not have been able to beat.
Heavy rainfall in the afternoon meant the field started on a slippery track, but dry enough that all opted for slicks. Michelisz didn’t get away well and fell behind Ehrlacher, but then drafted past him on the straight on lap three of 15 when Ehrlacher put a wheel on the painted line and lost traction.
Esteban Guerrieri, returning to touring car competition after competing in the World Endurance Championship last year, briefly threatened for second in his Honda Civic, run by new team GOAT Racing, whose team manager is former world tin-top race winner Pepe Oriola. But Guerrieri’s challenge quickly faded, and he settled into the final podium spot.
In the second race, Girolami, who’d deliberately targeted the top 10 reversed grid knowing he didn’t have the pace of his Hungarian team-mate, launched off the line well and kept the lead throughout ahead of the Lynk & Co of Santiago Urrutia.
The race was suspended behind the safety car on the first lap after local racer Filippo Barberi, who’d first jumped the start from 15th on the grid by some margin, and even briefly got ahead of Michelisz in 10th, slid off at Turn 3 and collected the Audi of Moroccan Sami Taoufik. The two collided again at Turn 8 and stopped on circuit, both requiring recovery. The race resumed for less than half a lap before another contender from the local Coppa Italia Turismo series, Victor Fernandez, spun and hit
