Aku Pellinen claims maiden TCR win in Spa race one

WestCoast Racing’s Aku Pellinen claimed a maiden victory in the first race of the TCR International Series at Spa-Francorchamps, thanks to a superb start to beat Pepe Oriola and Dušan Borković to the win.

Both pole man Borković and fellow front-row man Oriola got off to poor starts when the lights went out at the start, allowing Pellinen to slot his Honda Civic into the lead before turn one.

Pellinen then set about building a 2.5 second lead over the SEAT of Oriola over the first three laps of the race, whilst Borković settled in to third. The order at the front would remain unchanged thereafter, despite the Spaniard doing his best to close in on the leading Finn at the end of the race.

- Advertisement -

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash was running in fourth for much of the race, but contact came from Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay on lap seven as the Brit was forced to heavily defend into Turn 18. That pitched Nash off the circuit and out of fourth, with Vernay himself being given a post-race 30-second penalty for the incident, dropping the Frenchman to 14^th.

B3 Racing’s Mat’o Homola was the biggest beneficiary of the contact ahead and finished in fourth, ahead of WestCoast Racing duo Gianni Morbidelli and Kevin Gleason in fifth and sixth. The Honda Civic duo made up most of their positions on the opening lap from the tail of the grid, with Morbidelli up to seventh from 15^th on the grid by halfway around lap one.

Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Davit Kajaia took seventh, with Nash recovering to take eighth after his earlier contact.

Sergey Afansyev, who stalled on the grid at the start of the race, followed his team-mate home in ninth, with WRT’s Antti Buri completing the top ten, having also stalled at the start.

Mikhail Grachev finished just outside the points in 11^th, having had to start from the back of the grid due to receiving a post-qualifying penalty.

The race ended in dramatic fashion, as the third B3 Racing SEAT of young Hungarian Attila Tassi ended the race in the barriers at Turn 11, having gone off at high-speed and head-on into the wall. Tassi walked away from the accident.

Reigning champion Stefano Comini failed to even start the race, with his Leopard Racing Volkswagen suffering from a broken driveshaft on its way to the grid.

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	14	Aku PELLINEN		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	9	9 LAPS	2:33.851	3
2	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	9	0.376	2:34.310	2
3	62	Dušan BORKOVIĆ		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	9	1.294	2:34.351	1
4	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	9	5.476	2:33.979	6
5	10	Gianni MORBIDELLI		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	9	6.724	2:34.011	15
6	24	Kevin GLEASON		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	9	7.208	2:34.435	13
7	7	Davit KAJAIA		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	9.669	2:34.609	14
8	54	James NASH		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	9	16.593	2:33.882	5
9	77	Sergey AFANASYEV		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	9	17.076	2:34.741	4
10	48	Antti BURI		Team WRT	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	17.734	2:34.425	10
11	8	Mikhail GRACHEV		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	21.975	2:35.956	18
12	38	Grégory GUILVERT		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Peugeot 308 Racing Cup	9	22.707	2:36.098	17
13	30	Jimmy CLAIRET		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Peugeot 308 Racing Cup	9	25.88	2:35.906	12
14	2	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Racing	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	34.596	2:33.702	9
15	50	Loris HEZEMANS		Ferry Monster Autosport	SEAT León TCR	9	44.782	2:34.879	16
16	9	Attila TASSI		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	8	1 Lap	2:34.656	7
R	49	Pierre-Yves CORTHALS		Ferry Monster Autosport	SEAT León Cup Racer	5	4 Laps	2:35.128	11
NS	1	Stefano COMINI		Leopard Racing	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	1	8 Laps	No time	8