Paolo Rocca wins safety car interrupted first Mugello race

Paolo Rocca claimed his first TCR Italy victory in the first race of the weekend at Mugello, a race which was interrupted twice by the safety car.

The ALM Motorsport driver started second but immediately claimed the lead as pole sitter Kim Hwarang reacted slowly in the rolling start and dropped to third behind Rocca’s team-mate Ruben Volt.

But the start was under investigation and Volt later received a five-second penalty for an incorrect start procedure.

The first safety car session came after the first lap as Damiano Reduzzi and Levente Losonczy came together, retiring from the race.

Nicola Baldan (Audi) made a strong restart and was able to snatch third from Hyundai driver Hwarang, having started seventh.

The second safety car session came soon after the restart as Jacopo Cimenes (Honda) of MM Motorsport made an optimistic move on Canadian Audi driver Nicolas Taylor who ended up in the gravel.

There were no major changes at the second restart and the next incident came just one lap from the end as Alex Ley (Hyundai) hit Matteo Poloni (Audi) from behind at high speed, resulting in a spin into the barriers for Poloni while Ley could continue and finish sixth.

Rocca won the race by 4.4 seconds ahead of Baldan while Volt was dropped to third due to his penalty, having crossed the finishing line in second place.

Pole sitter Hwarang dropped down to finish fourth ahead of fellow South Korean driver Junesung Park.

Cupra driver Salvatore Tavano made his way from 19th on the grid to finish eleventh and keps the points lead, albeit just five points ahead of Volt while Baldan is third, 15 points adrift.

The next race starts at 10:20 CEST on Sunday.