Ruben Volt gives new Honda first win in TCR Europe

ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt gave the new Honda Civic its first victory in TCR Europe, coming through from tenth on the grid in an exciting race with several changes of leader.

Giacomo Ghermandi had found himself on the reverse-grid pole position, with Aggressive Team Italia’s Giovanni Scamardi alongside, and the Audi driver assumed the lead at the start.

Ghermandi only led for half a lap, however, as Comtoyou Racing duo John Filippi and Tom Coronel got by at the Parabolica – Filippi upon entering the corner, and Coronel on the outside line on the exit.

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Filippi then led for just over a lap, before Coronel dived down the inside at the chicane on lap three – although the Dutchman had to cut the chicane in the process.

Nicola Baldan took advantage of the situation and passed Filippi for second, before Filippi then lost another place to the charging Volt at the start of the fourth tour.

Baldan applied stern pressure to Coronel and on lap five passed Coronel on the outside line into the chicane, with Coronel quickly losing out to Volt as well as he lost momentum.

It only took one more lap for Volt to claim the race lead on the exit of the Parabolica, although he carried slightly too much speed into the first chicane moments later and had to cut the corner.

With Volt ordered to give the place back, Baldan passed at the Variante Ascari, but on lap eight Volt definitely took the lead on the outside of the Parabolica, and the fight for the win was settled.

For Estonian racer Volt it is not only his first TCR Europe win, but his maiden TCR victory, after spending he past three seasons racing in TCR Italy with multiple podium finishes.

Baldan took second, again – his fourth in a row – with points leader Coronel completing the podium.

Viktor Andersson brought his MA:GP Lynk & Co home in fourth, the Swede’s best result of the season, ahead of Filippi in fifth.

Race one winner Kobe Pauwels was sixth, and as a result sees the deficit to series leader Coronel grow to ten points ahead of the final meeting of the year.

Having failed to start race one with a fuel pump issue, PMA Motorsport fixed the issue on Felice Jelmini’s Audi, and the Italian took the chequered flag in seventh, ahead of Comtoyou’s Viktor Davidovski in eighth.

The top ten was completed by Comtoyou’s Lewis Brown and Aggressive Team Italia’s Levente Losonczy – although the latter only just made it due to damage on his Hyundai creating significant amounts of smoke.

Ghermandi finished a lap down after having to pit to resolve an issue, whilst series newcomer Ivan Peklin was the only retirement of the race in the second Volcano Motorsport Audi.

TCR Europe resumes in Barcelona for the season finale in a month’s time on 21 – 22 October.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	127			Ruben VOLT	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	10	19:55.413	1:57.552	10
2	8			Nicola BALDAN	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	1.964	1:58.344	8
3	34			Tom CORONEL	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	2.900	1:58.255	3
4	10			Viktor ANDERSSON	MA:GP	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	10	3.397	1:58.391	4
5	27			John FILIPPI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	3.589	1:58.391	6
6	22			Kobe PAUWELS	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	3.997	1:58.183	9
7	44			Felice JELMINI	PMA Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	4.382	1:58.386	12
8	11			Viktor DAVIDOVSKI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	4.674	1:58.204	7
9	39			Lewis BROWN	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	5.303	1:58.306	5
10	264			Levente LOSONCZY	Aggressive Team Italia	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	10	12.411	1:58.365	14
11	84			Giovanni SCAMARDI	Aggressive Team Italia	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	10	16.753	1:58.866	2
12	7			Daniel TKACHENKO	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	10	25.678	2:00.064	11
13	3			Giacomo GHERMANDI	LEMA Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	9	+ 1 LAP	2:02.283	1
14	29			Ivan PEKLIN	Volcano Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	8	+ 4 LAPS	1:59.045	13