TCR World and life

26 ITALY SalvatoreTavano isbackontop AFTER THE TWO EVENTS AT IMOLA THE REIGNING CHAMPION IS IN CONTENTION FOR A FOURTH CONSECUTIVE TITLE TCR Italy’s reigning champion Salvatore Tavano likes Imola a lot! In 2019 he won three of the four races held at the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Fer- rari, while last year he was crowned champion there, for the third conse- cutive year, in the very last race. As the series visited Imola twice, before and after the summer break, Ta- vano did not miss the opportunity to jump back to the top of the stan- dings for the first time after the season’s third race at Misano. And he did it in his own way, gaining the most from his rivals’ mistakes and misad- ventures. In the first race of the September event, Tavano claimed an authoritative win from pole position, keeping Nicola Baldan at bay after an epic fight (above). He then inherited a precious third place in Race 2, benefiting from the penalties imposed on Baldan and Dušan Kouřil. The latter was punished for an incident with Antti Buri that sent the previous leader cra- shing at the Variante Alta. However, the results of the race remain suspended pending the appeal lodged by Baldan against the 5-second penalty he was given for cutting onto the gravel after the start that dropped him from second to seventh. Waiting for the appeal to be heard, Tavano leads by eight points ahead of Baldan, while Buri has dropped to third, four further points behind.