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STANDINGS
REGIONAL & NATIONAL
19
Baldan jumps to the top of the standings
Nicola Baldan (Pit Lane Competizioni
SEAT León) won Mugello’s Race 2 and
so jumped ahead of Eric Scalvini (MM
Racing Honda Civic) in the
championship classification with a
margin of four points.
Scalvini had been lucky enough to
maintain the series lead after the first
race, in which he salvaged a second
position despite blowing the engine
on the last lap, but in the second race
he couldn’t achieve anything better
than a ninth.
After losing a couple of victories in
previous events because of tyre
failures, Kevin Giacon had his best
weekend so far in the season, as he
was finally able to grab his maiden
win at the wheel of his Opel Astra in
Race 1 and then finished second in
Race 2.
Race 1 – Scalvini and Giacon started
better than pole sitter Baldan who
nearly stalled and dropped to fifth.
During the opening lap, Giacon
benefited from a mistake from
Scalvini and took the lead.
Behind the Giacon-Scalvini duo,
Mugelli, Kralev and Baldan were in a
close fight for third. After resisting
the assaults from Baldan, Kralev
overtook Mugelli on lap 7 and began
to close the gap to the leading duo.
In the final part of the race, Giacon
was being chased by Scalvini and
Kralev, then on the last lap Scalvini’s
engine blew and spilled oil onto the
track, which forced the Race Director
to wave the red flag. Consequently,
the final classification was that of the
previous lap, meaning that Scalvini
maintained his second position
behind Giacon and ahead of Kralev.
Race 2 – The MM Racing crew
succeeded in changing Scalvini’s
engine and he made the best start
and took the lead from Baldan and
Mugelli, but the Safety Car was
deployed on lap 1 to recover a couple
of cars that had spun off.
The race resumed on lap 3 and Baldan
overtook Scalvini for the lead; behind
them Giacon moved up to third ahead
of Kralev and Mugelli. From the 5th
lap onwards, Scalvini’s pace faded and
he began to lose positions. Giacon and
Kralev advanced to second and third,
but Baldan had already built a safe
margin and went to claim his fourth
win of the season. After the race
Kralev was demoted to ninth by a
penalty for overtaking during the
Safety Car period and so Mugelli
inherited third.
The TCR Italy series will resume on
September 9 and 10 at Imola.
Results
Mugello, Round 7, Sunday 16 July
1. Kevin Giacon (Opel Astra); 2. Eric
Scalvini (Honda Civic); 3. Plamen
Kralev (Audi RS3 LMS)
Mugello, Round 8, Sunday 16 July
1. Nicola Baldan (SEAT León); 2.
Kevin Giacon (Opel Astra); 3.
Massimiliano Mugelli (Audi RS3 LMS)