Volt wins at Salzburgring in TCR Europe race split in two by red flags
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt won TCR Europe race two at the Salzburgring, which featured a lengthy red flag period.
Volt started second but was quickly alongside reversed-grid polesitter Giovanni Scamardi. They banged wheels before turn one, and Volt slid through the chicane while SP Competition driver Scamardi cut the corners and rejoined in the lead.
Scamardi allowed Volt past late in lap two, while Volt’s team-mate Levente Losonczy passed Goat Racing’s Rubén Fernandez for third after several corners of side-by-side action.
Volt was not able to pull away once ahead, but he did not have to worry about Scamardi as he came under attack from a rapid Losonczy on lap six. After backing out of a potential move at turn one, Losonczy went down the inside of Scamardi at turn five.
Fernandez went off at the final corner and dropped behind SP Competition’s Aurélien Comte, then on the next lap had a big crash that led to the safety car coming out and then the race being red flagged on lap nine.
Prior to the safety car period, Comte had been busy fighting with Monlau Motorsport’s Franco Girolami. The pair clashed at turn one on lap four, with Girolami cutting the chicane but with no gain, then on lap seven they ran side-by-side through turn five.
Girolami again failed to get past, and ended up falling behind ALM’s Ignacio Montenegro. But during the first lap of safety car action, Girolami moved back ahead. After the 20-minute stoppage, the race was restarted on lap nine and with Girolami ahead of Montenegro.
There were two laps completed behind the safety car when the race restarted, and so the race length was extended from 13 to 15 laps. When green flags waved on lap 11, Girolami attempted to go around the outside of Comte and Scamardi at turn five and it initially looked like he had nosed ahead of both. But Scamardi edged ahead exiting the corner, then after running side-by-side with Comte he was back behind him by turn 11.
On the next lap he tried going down Comte’s inside at turn one and got the move done, only to slide off and bounce against the barriers while Comte cut the chicane. Comte rejoined still behind Scamardi, and Girolami dropped to last place.
Up front there was a small gap between Volt and the faster Losonczy, but he could not get close enough to challenge for the win.
Comte finished third, but almost fell to fifth on lap 13 as Montenegro attacked him at turn one. He got past his team-mate Scamardi at turn 11 a lap later, and Montenegro almost followed him through but Scamardi went deep into the final chicane in defence.
The fight for fourth was decided at the chequered flag, with Montenegro passing Scamardi and Comtoyou Racing’s Nicola Baldan finishing right on his tail after passing Felipe Fernández and Santiago Concepcio in the last two laps.
Monlau pair Viktor Davidovski and Girolami both lost over 20s on the final lap and finished 10th and 11th.
