Franco Girolami cut Mikel Azcona’s championship lead in the TCR Europe series to just 10 points following his second win of the weekend at Monza after a stunning drive through the field.
Girolmai, who had started the race 10th due to the reverse grid rule following his pole position for the opening race of the weekend on Saturday, found himself in fourth by the end of the opening lap after making an incredible start at the Italian circuit.
By lap four, the PSS Racing driver was up to second and behind early leader Nicolas Baert and he made a stunning move round the outside of the Belgian at turn one that saw him grab the lead.
However, he didn’t have it all his own way as season long rival Azcona was able to quickly catch up behind and the pair, as like yesterday, made contact several times as Girolmai attempted to hold on to the lead.
This included at turn one on six, with the pair banging wheels that forced championship leader Azcona to head for the escape road and re join having lost vital time.
More drama was then to unfold for Azcona – the Spaniard had earlier collided with the rear of Jimmy Clairet’s Peugeot on lap one at the Parabolica that saw him ultimately receive a five second time penalty late on in the race.
The time penalty means he finished the race in fifth and crucially has had his championship lead slashed to just ten points over Girolami with just two races of the season remaining.
Race two at Monza took place in damp but drying conditions, with more action unfolding between Baert – who struggled in the second half of the race – the impressive Mat’o Homola, Coronel, ComToYou Racing teammate Dušan Borković and Jack Young in the Brutal Fish Racing Honda.
All four drivers battled closely throughout the 10 laps, with Homola ultimately holding out for what became second after Azcona’s time penalty ahead of double podium finisher Coronel.
Fourth in race two went to Young, with Azcona dropping to fifth following his five second penalty. Felice Jelmini, Jimmy Clairet and Borković all also managed to get past Baert following his drop in pace during the later stages to finish sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Complting the top 10 in race two was Teddy Clairet in the second Team Clairet Sport Peugeot, with Sami Taoufik and Isidro Callejas taking 11th and 12th – Taoufik having started the race 15th.
The final two rounds of the 2021 TCR Europe series are set to take place in Barcelona in two weekends time.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 20:22.757 | 2:00.326 | 10 | |
| 2 | 70 |  |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1.974 | 2:00.316 | 2 | |
| 3 | 32 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 2.739 | 2:00.718 | 7 | |
| 4 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 3.050 | 1:59.315 | 9 | |
| 5 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 10 | 5.171 | 1:59.516 | 4 | |
| 6 | 44 |  |
Felice JELMINI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 6.498 | 2:00.175 | 8 | |
| 7 | 21 |  |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 6.929 | 2:00.756 | 3 | |
| 8 | 162 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 6.963 | 2:01.398 | 5 | |
| 9 | 8 |  |
Nicolas BAERT | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 7.176 | 2:00.870 | 1 | |
| 10 | 20 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 7.748 | 2:00.854 | 13 | |
| 11 | 25 |  |
Sami TAOUFIK | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 10.077 | 2:00.802 | 14 | |
| 12 | 26 | |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 10.631 | 2:00.785 | 6 | |
| 13 | 250 | |
Mehdi BENNANI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 12.815 | 2:01.224 | 20 | |
| 14 | 97 |  |
Bartosz GROSZEK | Horňak-Aditis Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 13.634 | 2:01.748 | 11 | |
| 15 | 10 | |
Niels LANGEVELD | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 14.562 | 2:01.891 | 19 | |
| 16 | 16 |  |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 10 | 14.685 | 2:01.625 | 18 | |
| 17 | 14 | |
Klim GAVRILOV | VRC-Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 14.817 | 2:01.365 | 17 | |
| 18 | 24 | |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 19.476 | 2:01.530 | 16 | |
| 19 | 77 | |
Sylvain PUSSIER | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 29.925 | 2:02.840 | 21 | |
| 20 | 101 |  |
Sergio LÓPEZ | RC2 Junior Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 10 | 30.990 | 2:01.384 | 22 | |
| 21 | 81 | |
Damiano REDUZZI | Trico WRT | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 34.208 | 2:02.352 | 25 | |
| 22 | 66 | |
Gilles COLOMBANI | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 56.040 | 2:04.374 | 24 | |
| 23 | 53 | |
Lukas STOLARCZYK | BTC Maszyny | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:02.269 | 2:04.160 | 26 | |
| 24 | 11 |  |
Gustav BIRCH | Brian Madsen Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 1:06.003 | 2:06.581 | 27 | |
| 25 | 38 |  |
Petr ČÍŽEK | Horňak-Aditis Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:15.149 | 2:06.751 | 28 | |
| 26 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 1:34.823 | 2:03.115 | 15 | |
| R | 17 | |
Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 2 | DNF | 2:16.507 | 12 | |
| R | 5 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ | RC2 Junior Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 1 | DNF | 2:17.761 | 23 |