Franco Girolami converts the pole into TCR Italy’s Race 1 win

Franco Girolami converted his pole position into an authoritative victory in the first race of TCR Italy at Misano. The MM Motorsport’s Argentine sprinted at the start and never looked back, pulling away until the safety car regrouped the field before the three final laps. Girolami did not make mistakes and took the chequered flag ahead of the Target Competition duo of Antti Buri and Nicola Baldan.
At the start, Buri was able to squeeze into second place ahead of Baldan who was followed by Jack Young and Salvatore Tavano. During the first lap, Young passed Baldan for P3 and Kevin Ceccon overtook Dušan Kouřil for P6.
The safety car was deployed in lap 2, after Raffaele Gurrieri’s CUPRA had gone off. When racing resumed in lap 4, Young passed Buri and moved into second. Soon afterwards, Damiano Reduzzi and Igor Stefanovski collided while fighting for P8 and both retired. 
In the meantime, Kouřil advanced to fifth passing Ceccon and Tavano; the latter dropped two more places to eighth as he was passed by Ceccon and Eric Brigliadori. 
In lap 9, Young’s Honda Civic stopped on the track with a technical issue, which promoted the Buri-Baldan pair to second and third. During the following lap, Ruben Volt overtook Tavano for P8, while Federico Paolino spun and rejoined after making contact with Matteo Poloni.
In lap 12, Marco Butti’s Volkswagen Golf GTI went off in the gravel and the safety car was called in again; it pulled into the pit at the beginning of lap 15. During the last three laps, Buri and Baldan couldn’t close the gap to Girolami and settled to finish second and third, with Kouřil and Ceccon following in fourth and fifth positions. Brigliadori provided the last thrill as he overtook Volt for P6.  
This helped Brigliadori to reduce the gap in the standings behind Tavano to seven points.
After the race, a 5 second penalty dropped Kouřil from fourth to eighth.
Kouřil and Reduzzi will share the front row on the top-eight reversed grid for the second race that starts tomorrow at 09:40 local time (CEST); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.

Misano – Race 1
1. Franco Girolami (MM Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 17 laps
2. Antti Buri (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 0.547
3. Nicola Baldan (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 1.040
4. Kevin Ceccon (Aggressive Team Italia, Hyundai i30 N), 2.736
5. Eric Brigliadori (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.991

Championship points
1. S. Tavano 111 pts; 2. E. Brigliadori 104; 3. K. Ceccon 93 

Picture: ACI Sport