TCR European Endurance – Pelatti/Girolami (Audi RS3 LMS) are the first winners of 2025

Following the results of Stage 2, Pelatti/Girolami (Audi RS3 LMS) have come out victorious from the opening round of the 2025 TCR European Endurance season around the Mugello Circuit, after a thrilling finish that saw the fight for the win go down to the final lap of the race. After finishing Stage 1 in second position, the PMA Motorsport pair fought back and crossed the line in first after Stage 2, a result that was enough for them to claim the victory after summing the times of the two stages.

Franco Girolami had a great start from second on grid, immediately putting pressure on Eric Scalvini and overtaking the Italian during lap two; behind them, Senna Summerbell kept the lead in the DSG category, while Berk Kalpaklıoğlu had to recover from a spin into San Donato. During the opening stint, Girolami built a sizeable gap over Scalvini, as Alessandro Alcidi maintained third place with his Audi RS3 #3. Once the the pit stop window opened, Alcidi immediately peeled into the pits to hand the car to Yuri Brigliadori, in the hopes to close the gap to the two leaders. After him, it was Scalvini’s turn, with Salvatore Tavano jumping behind the wheel of Wimmer Werk Motorsport’s Cupra.

After Girolami served his mandatory pit stop the following lap, Sandro Pelatti emerged as the Stage 2 leader. However, Tavano’s pace was good enough to catch up to the back of his rival. With 15 minutes to go, the three-time TCR Italy champion launched the attack, overtaking Pelatti up the inside of San Donato and re-taking the lead of Stage 2. However, disaster struck the Wimmer Werk Motorsport crew a few minutes later, as Tavano had to stop his car in sector two, effectively putting a premature end to the race of his Cupra and taking it out of contention for the race win. This gifted the lead back to Pelatti, who had to defend from Brigliadori’s efforts at the end of the race. After the latter closed the gap, the two engaged in a last-lap thrilling battle; despite Brigliadori’s best efforts, Pelatti’s excellent defence was enough to keep the lead of Stage 2.

Thanks to their faultless performance, Pelatti/Girolami where therefore able to cross the start finish line of Stage 2 in first place, with Brigliadori/Alcidi (Audi RS3 LMS) ultimately settling for second despite their late comeback. Senna Summerbell (Cupra Leon DSG) came home in third place overall, while also being the top DSG entry in the standings. A strong effort from Damante/Maccari (Audi RS3 DSG) saw the #8 Tuder Motorsport car come home in fourth place, as well as in second position in the DSG category. Fifth was the TEXACO Team AMS Gen-1 entry of Çiftçi/Okyay (Audi RS3 Gen-1), who came through as the best Gen-1 class of the stage. The fight for sixth position saw Alcidi/Giovannoni (VW Golf GTI DSG) get the better of Cuppari/Verrocchio (VW Golf GTI DSG), whereas Kalpaklıoğlu/Özen (Audi RS3 DSG) came home for eighth. Ninth position belonged to Stefano Moretti (VW Golf GTI DSG), with Scalvini/Tavano (Cupra Leon Competicion) ultimately failing to cross the finish line.

Following Stage 2’s results, Pelatti/Girolami took home the race win around the Mugello Circuit; this marks the pair’s second victory in the history of the series, after their maiden success in Misano-1 last season. Polesitters Brigliadori/Alcidi came through for second place, with Senna Summerbell (Cupra Leon DSG) finishing in third – while also becoming the first DSG winner of the season. Çiftçi/Okyay (Audi RS3 Gen-1) took fourth in the overall standings, as well as the Gen-1 win for reigning teams’ champions TEXACO Team AMS. Tuder Motorsport took home a double podium finish in the DSG standings, with Damante/Maccari ahead of Alcidi/Giovannoni; the two cars also finished fifth and sixth in the overall standings respectively. Seventh were Kalpaklıoğlu/Özen, with Stefano Moretti finishing in eighth. Scalvini/Tavano had to settle for ninth, with Cuppari/Verrocchio rounding out the top-10.

As the opening race weekend of the season comes to a close, TCR European Endurance gets ready to leave Italy and reach Slovakia: in fact, the series will be back for round two from the 6th to the 8th of June at the Slovakiaring.