Clairet wins red-flagged chaotic Monza finale as Taylor claims TCR Italy title
Teddy Clairet won a chaotic red-flagged final Monza race of the season as Nicolas Taylor claimed the 2024 TCR Italy on equal points with Ruben Volt.
Disaster struck Nicola Baldan, who headed the championship before the race, immediately as he slowed down just as the rolling start went underway.
The Audi driver was able to restart his car and rejoin the 39-car field right at the back.
Clairet and Volt shared second place in the standings ahead of the race and the two were close to each other during the first part of the race.
But ALM Motorsport driver Volt could not match the pace of the front-runners and started to drop down the order from fourth place on the grid.
The safety car was called into action on the first lap as Hyundai driver Alex Ley stopped at the exit of Turn 1 following contact between several drivers, including Damiano Reduzzi who headed into the pits for retirement.
A separate incident later on the first lap saw Sandro Pelatti stopping on track.
As the race restarted, PMA Motorsport driver Taylor made a crucial move on Volt to snatch seventh place.
Volt was soon after passed by Audi driver Denis Babuin, with Taylor and Volt now back on equal points in the standings.
Hyundai driver Junui Park was turned around by Levente Losonczy at Turn 1 on lap four, a move resulting in a 25-second penalty for Losonczy. Park rejoined the field to finish 19th.
While Clairet pulled away at the top after a strong start, there was a tough fight for second place between Junesung Park (Hyundai), Salvatore Tavano (Cupra) and pole sitter Michele Imberti (Hyundai).
Park and Tavano were able to pass Imberti for second and third place on lap five, with Tavano then passing Park for second place a lap later. Solite Indigo Racing driver Park was the able to reclaim second place just before the red flags were brought out.
But before the red flags came out there was a second safety car session as Honda driver Luciano Martinez hit the barriers hard in the final corner on lap six.
As the safety car headed back in, MM Motorsport driver Marco Pellegrini attacked Volt heading into the first chicane.
The two then continued their fight all the way to Second Variante when Volt hit the back of Pellegrini as the latter tried to defend ninth place.
The contact sent Pellegrini hard into the barriers and left his Honda stranded right in the middle of the track with a small fire coming out of his smashed engine bay. Pellegrini was able to walk away on his own from the incident.
The red flags were immediately brought out and the race declared finished one lap earlier.
This meant victory for Clairet ahead of Junesung Park, Tavano, Giacomo Ghermandi, Imberti and Paolo Rocca.
Race 1 winner Taylor came home in seventh place which, with Volt in ninth place in the provisional results, meant that the two finished the season on the same points, 352.
But the title goes to Taylor as they are on equal amount of wins (two) but Taylor has one second-place finish while Volt has none.
Baldan fought his way through the field to finish 22nd which means that he drops from the lead to finish third overall, eight points behind.
It should be noted that the results are still provisional and that an investigation of Volt’s incident with Pellegrini is likely.
