Franco Girolami extends advantage with race one win

Franco Girolami extended his lead in the TCR Europe standings with a lights-to-flag win in the opening race of the weekend at Brno.

Girolami made the best start to lead the field down to turn one ahead of Aurelien Comte, with the leading pair being chased by the leading TCR Eastern European runner Mat’o Homolo – who wasted little time in getting ahead of Viktor Andersson’s Lynk & Co on the opening lap.

Behind them, Ignacio Montenegro and Bartosz Groszek were the big winners – making up two and three spots respectively as the Audi of Martin Kadlečík lost ground.

The trio would remain in close contention through the early laps, with Kadlečík finding his way back ahead of both Montenegro and Groszek on lap three, with Montenegro’s Honda forced off line as the field raced down to turn one at the start of the fourth lap – allowing Adam Kout’s Hyundai to nip down the inside and into seventh.

Girolami continued to lead the way as he edged away from Comte, with Homola unable to keep pace with the front pair but having plenty in hand in the Hyundai to keep himself clear of Andersson behind.

Kadlečík was also starting to move away from Goszek for fifth, with the biggest battle inside the top ten featuring a charging Viktor Davidovski, who had battled his way forwards into the top ten and found himself all over the rear of Montenegro for eighth spot by the half-way stage.

Their battle also provided Giovanni Scamardi with the chance to make it a three-way battle for position as the Cupra duo locked onto the rear of the Honda, but on lap nine, Davidovski dropped out the fight when he suffered a spin.

With Scamardi forced to take avoiding action, it allowed Felipe Fernandez through into ninth and gave Montenegro some breathing space.

At the front however, Girolami was in a class of his own and having taken the points lead after qualifying, was able to extend his advantage over Comte – with the Frenchman closing the gap down to 2.6s on the final lap when his title rival eased off at the front.

Homola took third spot as the leading Eastern European runner, with Andersson being chased down by Kadlečík in the closing stages before holding on to fourth.
Groszek took sixth ahead of Kout, with Montenegro, Fernandez and Scamardi rounding out the top ten.

Giacomo Ghermandi was the only retirement after being forced to bring his Honda into the pits early on, whilst Davidovski’s spin saw him drop down to 21st spot once he had finally been able to get his Cupra restarted.