Mikel Azcona and Franco Girolami will battle one last time for the 2021 TCR Europe title in Barcelona this weekend, where Spaniard Azcona could potentially secure the honours after race one.
Azcona has been the dominant driver of 2021, claiming five victories and a further three podium finishes out of the ten races he has contested thus far.
The only driver to even come close to the Volcano Motorsport CUPRA driver is Girolami, who has two wins and a further three podium finishes to his name.
It could have been more – Girolami had crossed the line first in Sunday’s second race at Monza last time out – but he was hit with a post-race penalty for overtaking Azcona under yellow flags, losing him a 40-point score.
Despite the standings, Girolami has improved steadily during 2021 – the 29-year-old’s first full season in TCR racing – and he is the only driver who can stop Azcona on home soil.
Working out how the title could be decided is slightly more complex due to the dropped scores rule introduced in the series for 2021.
Assuming that Girolami will not endure his two worst scores of the season in Barcelona, it means he stands most likely to have to drop the zero points for race two at Monza and the seven points he picked up for finishing 12th in the first race of the season at the Slovakiaring.
For Azcona, the calculations are simple – the Spaniard skipped the Zandvoort event in its entirety, so he simply drops those two ‘non-scores’. The drop score rule was introduced for exactly such a scenario – to enable a driver to miss an entire event and not necessarily have to suffer in the championship battle (although the rule was introduced more to cover off potential COVID travel restrictions rather than to enable a driver to contest two series which might clash during the yar).
As such, with Girolami’s seven points knocked off, the gap between the two rivals would stand at 60 points, with 40 points available for a race win and a further ten available for pole position in qualifying, meaning a total of 90 points are up for grabs this weekend.
In reality, it means that Azcona is very much in the prime position and could wrap up the title after Saturday’s first race.
Girolami realistically needs to win both races, and claim pole position as well, although the last round at Monza show he is perfectly capable of pulling such a feat off.
Azcona, on the other hand, has already achieved a near-perfect weekend score, having won both races at both Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring, only missing out on the ‘perfect 90’ because he failed to secure pole position on either occasion.
If Azcona were to fail to finish race one, or finish outside the points, with Girolami going on to win, then the Spaniard might have to reconsider his decision to head off to Most in the Czech Republic for Friday’s FIA World Touring Car Cup races, where he is out of title contention.
It all depends on how Saturday goes for the 25-year-old Spaniard.
In any case, Azcona will be on the back foot compared to his rival, as he will spend Friday in Most taking part in practice and qualifying for WTCR, thus missing both practice sessions in Barcelona.
In the same predicament is Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel, who sits third overall in the drivers’ standings. Although out of contention for the overall title, Coronel is just 13 points ahead of fellow Dutchman Niels Langeveld.
Should Coronel do enough to hold on to third, it would mark his best-ever overall placing in a touring car championship since he started racing tin tops in 2001.
Elsewhere, the grid will boast 24 entries this weekend as Italian Giacomo Ghermandi and Spaniard Felipe Fernández join the field in CUPRA Leon Competición cars.
There will also be a high of six CUPRA Leon Competición cars on the grid, as Klim Gavrilov switches to a third car run by Volcano Motorsport, ditching the Audi he has raced thus far this year, whilst Sergio López continues with RC2 Junior Team for a second successive event.
Much had been expected of the Sébastien Loeb Racing-run Hyundai Elantra N cars this year, with reigning champion Mehdi Bennani, compatriot Sami Taoufik, Niels Langeveld and Felice Jelmini at the wheel.
But only Bennani has won a race in the car, whilst Langeveld sits fourth in the drivers’ standings, vying with Coronel for a top three placing.
Nevertheless, the team sits atop the Teams’ standings, with a comfortable 83 point margin over Comtoyou Racing, making it likely that the Hyundai outfit will wrap up one title this season.
Free practice takes place on Friday, followed by qualifying and race one on Saturday at 10:40 and 15:40 CEST respectively (09:40 and 14:40 BST). Race two is on Sunday at 13:45 CEST (12:45 BST).