Stefano Comini enjoyed his race two battle with Roberto Colciago in the TCR International Series at Monza, with the Swiss eventually holding on to secure his second win of the season.
The Audi driver took the lead early on in the race when he got a better start than the two front-row Craft-Bamboo cars, before he then had to defend hard from the charging Colciago in the later stages of the race.
Having finished just eighth in race one on Saturday after a recovery drive when Hugo Valente dropped him to the back of the pack, Comini was pleased to follow up with a win on Sunday.
“Yesterday was really a bad day for me,” said Comini. “Valente hit me and accelerated to make me spin, but today was great.
“It was a funny first lap but I knew with the success ballast I had to get into the lead as soon as possible. It was difficult to keep the position, but it was fun.”
Comini admitted that having to carry 30 kg of success ballast on top of the most Balance of Performance [BoP] weight had, he felt, made the car more dangerous due to the need for increased braking distances.
“The solution to the brake problem was to get into the lead, so more cool air goes into the brakes,” explained the reigning champion. “Yesterday was really dangerous, and in the last three laps today I had to use all my strength to brake because the car wasn’t slowing down.”
Comini leaves Monza just 18 points away from the championship lead having narrowed the gap to leader Jean-Karl Vernay at the weekend.