Motorsport: Comini back in the title fight

"Scusi, it took so long. After a bit of a delay, we've now made it," said Stefano Comini, apologizing for the long dry spell. The jovial driver from Ticino has not won a TCR race since the final race in Macau in 2015, where he clinched the title. His new team Leopard Racing, which is supported by the successful Belgian GT3 squad from WRT, needed time to turn the VW Golf GTI TCR into a winning car. At least for Comini, because his French team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay had already won for the first time in Belgium.

Comini benefited from the retirement of race leader Gianni Morbidelli in the first race at Imola. The latter suddenly slowed his pace because the power steering on the Honda Civic had failed. While some of his pursuers were able to avoid the obstacle, it was his new team-mate Alain Menu who hit him at the exit of the chicane. Not a good start for the man from Geneva at WestCoast Racing. At least Menu scored his first TCR point in tenth place in the second race.

Handicap on the Salzburgring
The winner of the weekend was his compatriot Stefano Comini. After winning the first race, he fought his way up from sixth on the grid, which he had to take due to the reverse order from qualifying, to third position in the second race. The points haul took him to second place in the championship. "On the one hand, I know Imola very well as a racing driver from Ticino. On the other hand, we put a lot of work into the setup to be fast over the distance. This paid off in both races." As punishment, his VW Golf will have to carry 30 kilos of success ballast in the next race on June 5 at the Salzburgring. "That will be difficult, but I'm leaving no stone unturned. The important thing now is to keep scoring points to stay in the title fight."

www.tcr-series.com
Photos: TCR