TCR race report from Red Bull Ring – Volkswagen Golf wins on debut, as Oriola is the new leader

It was an exciting and historic weekend at the Red Bull Ring for the TCR International Series, as the much-awaited debut of the new Volkswagen Golf TCR not only materialized, but ended in glory, as Pol Rosell took a superb win in Race 2. The 23-year-old Spaniard, who participated in the development programme of the Golf, made perfect use of the pole position on the reversed grid to keep everybody at bay, resisting in the final laps to the attacks of Pepe Oriola and Jordi Gené, the three signing an all-Spanish (and Catalan) podium.
Vokswagen becomes the fourth different brand to win a race on the maiden season of the series, joining SEAT, Honda and Audi. Oriola, third in Race 1, was the great winner of the weekend with respect to the title bid. He left Austria as the new leader of the standings, two points ahead of Stefano Comini and 24 of Gené; Morbidelli, Belicchi and Gleason are not much further away, a situation that anticipates a thrilling final stretch of the season in Asia.
Target Competition signed a one-two in the first race, with Stefano Comini winning ahead of Andrea Belicchi, after the stewards imposed a post-race penalty to Gianni Morbidelli. The WestCoast Racing driver was sanctioned for the many contacts that marked the race and confirmed the heated permanent duel with Comini. With a braking failure putting an end to his Race 2, Morbidelli’s weekend ended bitterly.
The fight for the Teams’ title is also expected to be very intense, with Craft-Bamboo Lukoil having reduced the gap from Target Competition to 14 points.
The TCR International Series will be back after the summer break, in Singapore (September 19 and 20) for rounds 17 and 18; this will be the third of the 2015 events held within F1 Grand-Prix weekends.

Race 1 – Comini inherits win after Morbidelli’s penalty

TCR drivers delivered an exciting first race at the Red Bull Ring. Gianni Morbidelli defeated Stefano Comini, his main rival in the championship fight at the end of a tough battle, but was later demoted by a penalty.
Comini led for most of the race but could not keep Morbidelli at bay in the final laps.
The fight on the track was followed by a hot exchange of accuses between the two rivals and eventually Morbidelli was stripped of his victory by a 30-second time penalty that demoted him out of the point-scoring positions.
The Stewards of the Meeting deemed that the Italian driver had behaved unsportingly, hitting several times the cars of Comini, Belicchi and Oriola.
Close behind the two duellists, Andrea Belicchi and Pepe Oriola had their own fight for third; Belicchi crossed the finishing line ahead by inches. The first four drivers classified were covered by only 1.2 seconds.

Key moments
Grid – Skuz (grid penalty) and Romanini (technical issue in qualifying) line up at the back
Start – Gleason takes the best start, Morbidelli is slow to leave the pole and is passed by Comini
Lap 1 – Comini and Morbidelli overtake Gleason; Nagy and Grachev make contact and the Hungarian crashes into the wall at the last corner
Lap 2 – Oriola overtakes Gleason for third; Belicchi overtakes Afanasyev for fifth
Lap 3 – Morbidelli chases Comini
Lap 4 – Morbidelli ‘kisses’ Comini’s rear bumper, Oriola uses the contact to overtake Morbidelli
Lap 5 – Gené overtakes Afanasyev for sixth; the top seven are all very close
Lap 6 – Morbidelli retakes second from Oriola; Belicchi overtakes Oriola for third
Lap 7 – Afanasyev and Gené nove up to fifth and sixth overtaking Gleason
Lap 8 – Romanini spins off at Turn 5
Lap 9 – Morbidelli and Comini swap places twice
Lap 10 – Belicchi overtakes Morbidelli for second; Morbidelli retakes second from Belicchi
Lap 11 – Morbidelli, Belicchi and Oriola fight for second
Lap 12 – Morbidelli is on Comini’s heels once again; Ananasyev loses two placed to Gené and Gleason
Lap 13 – Comini and Morbidelli run door-to-door and make contact; Comini runs wide at the last turn and Morbidelli takes the lead
Lap 14 – Morbidelli wins from Comini; Belicchi beats Oriola by inches for third

RESULTS

Race 2 – Rosell scores maiden win for Volkswagen

The debuting Volkswagen Golf TCR took its maiden win in the TCR International Series in only its second race, as Pol Rosell managed to keep the pole advantage from lights to flag with a perfect and faultless performance.
The Liqui Moly Team Engstler-run car preceded the two Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil SEAT cars of Pepe Oriola and Jordi Gené who put big pressure throughout the race on Rosell, but unsuccessfully. With three of their representatives on the podium, it was also a triumphant day for Catalan ( and Spanish) motor racing.
The best Target Competition SEAT cars and WestCoast Racing Honda cars had a more difficult afternoon. Comini salvaged a ninth after his car got damaged in various incidents, while Belicchi had to stop with mechanical problems. In the Civic camp, Morbidelli fell victim of a mistake that sent him into the gravel, while Kevin Gleason finished the race, in P5.
Mikhail Grachev took 6 th, ahead of Lorenzo Veglia and Michela Cerruti, who both made a good race. The final point was for Gabriele Marotta.

Key moments
Grid – Nagy does not start, as his SEAT was not repairable after the accident in Race 1
Start – Rosell takes and excellent start from the pole, while Grachev gets passed by Gené
Lap 1 – Morbidelli, after a poor start, passes Veglia for 9th
Lap 2 – Rosell leads from Gené and Grachev while there is battle for fourth between Belicchi and Comini
Lap 4 – Grachev is under attack from Oriola, while Morbidelli passes Afanasyev, Gleason drops to 9 th and Skuz makes an off-track, returning to the pits with front left wheel damage
Lap 5 – Grachev goes wide in Turn 5 and is passed by Oriola and Comini
Lap 6 – Morbidelli attacks Belicchi, but goes sideways in Turn 3 and spins onto the gravel after hitting Comini who drops to 10 th
Lap 7 – Rosell is still leading ahead of Gené
Lap 8 – The Ford of Romanini stops along the track, while Cerruti passes Comini
Lap 9 – Oriola is putting the pressure on Gené
Lap 10 – Belicchi seems to have some issues as he slows down and pits
Lap 11 – Gené makes an attempt to overtake Rosell; the latter defends the leadership and Oriola takes the advantage and overtakes Gené
Lap 12 – Comini drives off track and continues despite a flat rear tyre
Lap 13 – Rosell tries to keep at bay a threatening Oriola; Afanasyev and Grachev fight for fourth; Gleason overtakes Grachev for fifth
Lap 14 – Rosell resists and wins from Oriola and Gené

RESULTS

What the race winners had to say

Stefano Comini, winner of Race 1: “The Honda was very fast and consistent here, I tried to be tactical, but it was difficult to stay in front. On top of that, Morbidelli hit me in the back at the beginning of the race and a few more times, which significantly affected my car’s performance in the closing laps. In my view the penalty he was handed was more than justified.”
Pol Rosell, winner of Race 2: “It’s fantastic! To come here, the first race of the Golf and my first in TCR, and to win, it’s just great! It has been a tough weekend, it was difficult to find the right balance and I had to adapt to Michelin tyres, which were new to me, but eventually everything went well. I took a perfect start and was able to build some breathing space, I wouldn’t call that a real gap, but in the last five laps, I was struggling with the tyres and oversteer and it was hard to resist to Jordi and Pepe. I was involved in the testing programme of the new Golf, so it’s a special feeling to achieve this result. It is a very good car, easy to drive, and I think we will see it often on the podium. Of course, it shares many components with the SEAT Leon, but the bodywork is different, and that leads to some differences also in the behavior and driving style required.”

Pepe Oriola, new championship leader: “I never raced here before, so it’s nice to be on the podium twice and finish the weekend achieving the goal I had set for myself: to take the lead in the championship. I spent many hours on the simulator to learn the track and took advice from my brother Jordi, who raced here last week, but still, reality is always different. Race 2 was tough, because first I had to pass Belicchi and then hope for a mistake from Grachev. Then I could catch up Jordi and pass him when he went a bit wide in Turn 2, but I couldn’t do the same with Rosell, although he also went wide a couple of times, although not enough to attempt a clear overtaking. Also, I didn’t want to take any risk and preferred to go for the points, considering also the misfortunes of some of my rivals, like Comini and Morbidelli.”