Eric Brigliadori wins Vallelunga Race 1 under the red flag

At Vallelunga, Eric Brigliadori converted the pole position into his third race win of the season in TCR Italy and so closed his gap to the points leader Salvatore Tavano to one point only.
The young driver of BF Motorsport, drove his Audi RS 3 LMS to take the lead at the start and never looked back, leaving his pursuers – Alessandro Giardelli, Tavano and Felice Jelmini – to fight over the second position while he pulled away.
Behind the four leaders, Jacopo Guidetti defended the fifth position from the assaults of Marco Pellegrini and Igor Stefanovski.
There were more tough fights in the middle of the pack and eventually Eric Scalvini spun off in lap 9 and crashed backwards at high speed into the barriers at the Curvone. His wrecked CUPRA bounced back and stopped in the middle of the track, forcing Andrea Argenti and Francesca Raffaele to cut on the grass in avoidance. Raffaele’s Audi then crossed the track at the Cimini bend in front of Mauro Guastamacchia who missed to t-bone the Audi by inches.
As Scalvini escaped unscathed, the safety car was deployed and two laps later the race was red flagged for good with only two minutes left on the clock. Behind Brigliadori, Giardelli claimed his first podium result, with Tavano collecting a third place that enabled him to retain the leadership in the standings.
Race 2 is scheduled to start tomorrow at 16:35 local time (CEST) and will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com.

Race 1
1. Eric Brigliadori (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 11 laps
2. Alessandro Giardelli (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 0.978
3. Salvatore Tavano (Scuderia del Girasole, CUPRA Leon Competición), 2.681
4. Felice Jelmini (PMA Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 3.736
5. Jacopo Guidetti (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R), 4.463

Championship points
1. Salvatore Tavano 110 pts; 2. Eric Brigliadori 109; 3. Marco Pellegrini 93. 

Picture: ACI Sport