Ruben Volt wins red-flag interrupted race two at the Salzburgring

Ruben Volt won a red-flag interrupted second TCR Europe race at the Salzburgring, as ALM Motorsport scored a first-ever 1-2 result with Levente Losonczy following him home.

At the start, reverse-grid pole-sitter Giovanni Scamardi came under attach from Volt into the first chicane, with Volt sliding through on the apex whilst the CUPRA driver cut the chicane and emerged in front.

Despite holding the lead for the first lap and a half, the Belgian then allowed the Estonian through into the lead at the penultimate corner, with Scamardi then having to defend from Losonczy, who had jumped past GOAT Racing’s Rubén Fernández at the start and made his way into third.

Further back, ALM’s Ignacio Montenegro was seeking to progress from his ninth on the grid and passed Felipe Fernández at the Nockstein Curve on the third tour, whilst on the same lap SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte was trying to get by Rubén Fernández for fourth.

Two laps later Losonczy finally took Scamardi for second at the Nockstein Curve, and just as the top three of Volt, Losonczy and Scamardi were getting very close in the battle for the lead, Rubén Fernández went off into the barriers at speed at the Nockstein Curve on lap eight, having a few corners earlier gone wide through the gravel exiting the final chicane.

The race was red-flagged whilst the car was recovered and the barrier repaired, although the field had already completed several laps behind the safety car.

Racing thus resumed on lap 12, with Monlau Motorsport’s Franco Girolami trying hard to get by Comte’s similar CUPRA for fourth.

A lap after the restart, Girolami dived inside Comte at the first chicane, which saw Comte cut across the gravel, but as Girolami put the power down to exit the corner he slid his CUPRA wide into the barriers, dropping to the back of the field.

Girolami continued, possibly with an ailed car, and Comte could hold fourth. That became third when he passed team-mate Scamardi on the penultimate lap, with Montenegro also following through into fourth.

Volt, though, secured victory by seven tenths of a second from Losonczy, in a historic 1-2 result for the Estonian team which was also Volt’s third win in TCR Europe.

Comte completed the podium ahead of Montenegro and Scamardi, with Comtoyou Racing’s Nicola Baldan finishing sixth after steadily gaining ground in a weekend where he and his Audi have lacked pace.

GOAT Racing’s Santiago Concepcion was seventh, ahead of MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson in eighth, the Swede having gone off on the opening lap.

The top ten was completed by GOAT Racing’s Felipe Fernández and Monlau Motorsport’s Viktor Davidovski, with Girolami the last of the finishers in 11^th.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	27			Ruben VOLT	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	43:37.486	1:25.655	2
2	64			Levente LOSONCZY	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	0.712	1:25.435	4
3	7			Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA León VZ TCR	15	3.147	1:25.899	6
4	23			Ignacio MONTENEGRO	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	4.232	1:25.846	9
5	34			Giovanni SCAMARDI	SP Compétition	CUPRA León VZ TCR	15	4.558	1:26.103	1
6	8			Nicola BALDAN	Baldan Group by Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS TCR II	15	4.740	1:25.505	12
7	33			Santiago CONCEPCIÓN	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	4.999	1:25.805	7
8	10			Viktor ANDERSSON	MA:GP	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	6.107	1:25.952	8
9	19			Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	15	6.358	1:25.930	5
10	110			Viktor DAVIDOVSKI	Monlau Motorsport	CUPRA León VZ TCR	15	44.007	1:26.224	11
11	72			Franco GIROLAMI	Monlau Motorsport	CUPRA León VZ TCR	15	44.411	1:25.826	10
R	11			Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	6	DNF	1:26.162	3
R	42			Sandro SOUBEK	Mair Racing Osttirol	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	2	DNF	1:35.961	13