18 / 38
18
WORLD AND LIFE
TCR 2018
NEWS
HOME
DRIVERS TEAM
Tavano thanks
his lucky star
LUIGI FERRARA SPOILS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY AT IMOLA
There are moments in a season when
everything goes well for a driver, and
those moments can sometimes mark
the turning point in a title fight. That
is what happened in the two latest
events of TCR Italy at Mugello and
Imola, when Salvatore Tavano was
able to make the most out of Luigi
Ferrara’s bad luck and mistakes to
take control of the championship.
After claiming his maiden victory and
the lead in the standings at Mugello,
where Ferrara was stopped by brake
failure on his way to winning the first
race, Tavano had another very positive
weekend at Imola. The SEAT
Motorsport Italia driver finished third
in Race 1 and won Race 2, extending
his leading margin in the Drivers’
championship to 40.5 points over
Ferrara who has slipped to third, 8.5
points behind Tavano’s teammate
Matteo Greco.
Ferrara can only blame himself for
losing another dominant victory in
Imola’s Race 1, as he was hit by a
penalty for not respecting the safety
car procedure that dropped him from
first to 16th. To add insult to injury,
in Race 2 he had to pit with a flat
tyre during a great recovery, managed
to salvage a ninth place, but was
penalised again for an infringement
during a safety car period and
dropped out of the points. He remains
in contention, but with much reduced
chances.
The icing on the cake for Tavano was
to see two other potential rivals,
Nicola Baldan and Eric Scalvini,
eliminate each other in an absurd
incident during the Qualifying
session. While zigzagging to warm up
the tyres, Scalvini hit Baldan and sent
his car rolling over. As a consequence,
the reigning champion was
hospitalized with a broken collarbone,
while Scalvini was excluded from the
meeting for causing the incident.
The first race then saw pole sitter
Enrico Bettera chasing Ferrara who
had taken the lead at the start from
second place on the grid; Bettera was
able to set the race’s fastest lap, but
could not overtake Ferrara. However
he inherited the victory – his maiden
win in TCR Italy – following Ferrara’s
penalty, while Massimiliano Mugelli
and Tavano completed the podium.
Luca Rangoni claimed a brilliant