Julien Briché keeps TCR Europe title hopes alive with lights-to-flag win

Julien Briché kept his title hopes in the TCR Europe series alive with a lights-to-flag win in race one at Monza, finishing ahead of fellow Peugeot racer Aurélien Comte as points leader Josh Files completed the podium.

Briché converted his pole position into a fourth win of the year in a relatively calm opening race in Italy, being guarded by DG Sport Compétition’s Comte throughout the race.

The start saw the two Frenchman move into a comfortable lead, whilst WRT’s Santiago Urrutia initially occupied third.

However, the Uruguayan lost the position on lap nine when Target Competition’s Files, who had moved up to sixth after the first lap and fourth by the end of lap two, passed him heading into the first turn.

Files lacked the pace to catch the leading Peugeots and had to settle for third, with the result seeing his championship advantage cut to 33 points ahead of Sunday’s season finale, with a total of 40 on offer in the race.

Urrutia took the chequered flag in fourth as the leading Audi, ahead of the second Target Hyundai of Mat’o Homola in fifth, the Slovakian having come through from 17^th on the grid.

Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus was sixth, the Belgian having battled hard with Homola in the closing laps.

Andreas Bäckman was seventh in his Hyundai, although the Target Competition driver had two laps earlier been involved in close door-to-door battling with Brutal Fish Racing’s Dan Lloyd, who ultimately retired with a front-left puncture after slight contact with his Swedish rival.

Dominik Baumann followed his Target team-mate home in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by the Peugeot of Teddy Clairet and M Racing Hyundai of Nelson Panciatici, who finished the race with damage after earlier contact with Gianni Morbidelli.

Morbidelli had earlier been knocked out of the top ten when he was hit by Luca Engstler at the end of the first lap, the incident ending the German’s race.

WestCoast Racing’s Morbidelli was adjudged to have been to blame for the contact with Panciatici later in the race and was handed a drive-through penalty, although the Italian opted to retire from the race rather than serve the sentence.

BRC Racing’s Luca Filippi retired after just one lap when his Hyundai was contacted by Comtoyou Racing’s Sami Taoufik at the first chicane and picked up left-rear damage.

PCR Sport’s John Filippi made up a couple of places late in the race to take 11^th, ahead of series returnee Stian Paulsen in 12^th.

Sometime entrant Klim Gavrilov was 13^th, the Russian having slipped back in the later laps after at one stage battling for a top ten finish, ahead of rookie Taoufik in 14^th. Viktor Davidovsky scored just his second points finish of the year in 15^th.

Race two gets underway at 11:35 CEST (10:35 BST).

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	24	Julien BRICHÉ		JSB Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	25:42.193	1:57.785	1
2	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	0.409	1:57.942	2
3	9	Josh FILES		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	4.710	1:57.748	9
4	55	Santiago URRUTIA		Team WRT	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	8.113	1:58.124	3
5	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	14.162	1:58.022	17
6	16	Gilles MAGNUS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	15.488	1:58.279	8
7	19	Andreas BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	17.555	1:58.146	12
8	58	Dominik BAUMANN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	17.564	1:58.665	22
9	111	Teddy CLAIRET		Team Clairet Sport	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	17.607	1:58.184	5
10	12	Nelson PANCIATICI		M Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	18.458	1:58.170	20
11	27	John FILIPPI		PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	13	19.203	1:58.955	11
12	34	Stian PAULSEN		Stian Paulsen Racing	CUPRA TCR	13	20.796	1:58.541	25
13	14	Klim GAVRILOV		VRC Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	20.914	1:58.869	4
14	15	Sami TAOUFIK		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	23.638	1:58.690	15
15	10	Viktor DAVIDOVSKY		PSS Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	24.776	1:58.946	18
16	22	Josh BURDON		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	25.387	1:58.636	33
17	112	Jimmy CLAIRET		Team Clairet Sport	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	26.680	1:59.175	13
18	25	Natan BIHEL		M Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	27.444	1:58.754	21
19	85	Guilherme SALAS		Vuković Motorsport	Renault Mégane RS TCR	13	28.387	1:58.873	28
20	88	Maxime POTTY		Team WRT	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	29.102	1:59.292	10
21	17	Martin RYBA		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	30.041	1:58.962	30
22	46	Olli KANGAS		WestCoast Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	33.446	1:59.206	26
23	91	Grigoriy BURLUTSKIY		Carville Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	34.616	1:59.444	23
24	96	Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI		QMMF Racing by PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	13	34.642	1:59.652	19
25	26	Jessica BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	37.037	1:59.134	27
26	21	Marie BAUS-COPPENS		JSB Compétition	CUPRA TCR	13	44.620	2:00.053	29
27	23	Tamás TENKE		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	13	50.227	1:59.617	24
28	117	Albert LEGUTKO		Legutko Racing – ADAC Berlin	Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR	13	1:03.859	2:01.514	31
29	18	Paul IP Kung Ching		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	1:19.878	2:01.544	32
R	123	Daniel LLOYD		Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	11	DNF	1:58.194	6
R	8	Luca ENGSTLER		M1RA Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	DNF	1:58.400	16
R	45	Gianni MORBIDELLI		WestCoast Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	10	DNF	1:58.933	7
R	30	Luca FILIPPI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	1	DNF	3:16.857	14