Torelli stars on home soil at Mugello

The Clio Cup Italia drivers took advantage of their familiarity with the track in practice, led by Gabriele Torelli and Cristian Ricciarini (Essecorse), before David Pouget ended their dominance in qualifying, setting the fastest time, 0.049s ahead of Gabriele Torelli. Joran Leneutre (JSB Competition) was initially third but started fifth on the grid behind Felice Jelmini (PMA Motorsport) and Styve Juif (GM Sport) due to a penalty incurred during his most recent race at Zandvoort.

From pole position, David Pouget made a clean start in front of Gabriele Torelli while Styve Juif took advantage of the duel between Alexandre Albouy (GPA Racing) and Felice Jelmini to move up to third place. The race, however, was soon neutralised behind the safety car to clear Giacomo Trebbi (MC Motortecnica) from the gravel after contact with Sandro Soubek (Mair Racing Osttirol).

At the restart, Gabriele Torelli tucked in the slipstream of David Pouget and took the lead at turn one. Styve Juif tried to do the same, but Felice Jelmini made the most of the situation while Alexandre Albouy lost out to Léo Jousset and Joran Leneutre in the battle for fifth place.

Race leader Gabriele Torelli initially pulled away while David Pouget had to deal with the pressure of Felice Jelmini until the latter conceded ground due to a mechanical issue on lap four. At the same time, the battle intensified between Styve Juif, Léo Jousset, Joran Leneutre and Alexandre Albouy for third place. Léo Jousset eventually took the position, while Joran Leneutre fell down the order. Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing) took advantage of the duel between Styve Juif and Alexandre Albouy to catch the group and move into fourth place with three laps remaining.

Despite the return of his pursuer, Gabriele Torelli kept a cool head to take the win ahead of David Pouget. Challenger Léo Jousset completed the podium ahead of Jerzy Spinkiewicz and Clio Trophy France Asphalte regular Styve Juif, who made quite an impression in his GM Sport’s Clio Cup debut.

Alexandre Albouy initially finished sixth, but he received a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off track. Cristian Ricciarini inherited sixth place, followed by Aurélien Renet (JSB Competition), William Mezzetti (Progetto E20 Motorsport) and Alexandre Albouy while Felice Jelmini recovered to tenth place. After several of his qualifying times were deleted for not respecting track limits, Nicolas Milan (Milan Compétition) started 39th and finished 14th while Pierre Monmaneix dominated the proceedings among the Gentlemen Drivers.

CLIO CUP ITALIA

Gabriele Torelli scored a lights-out to chequers win in Clio Cup Italia ahead of Cristian Ricciarini and William Mezzetti, putting an end to Felice Jelmini's invincibility this season. Thanks to his win, Gabriele Torelli regained ground on his countryman, who finished fourth today. Cristian Ricciarini won the Challengers Cup thanks to his overtake of William Mezzetti on lap five and now trails class leader Giacomo Trebbi by a single point. Gianalberto Coldani (MC Motortecnica) completed the podium.  Gentlemen Drivers Cup leader Quinto Stefana (Milan Competition) took the lead of the category on lap six to take the win ahead of Diego Cassarà (Faro Racing) and Daniele Pasquali (Tuder Motorsport) in what was a spirited battle right up to the chequered flag.

CLIO CUP FRANCE

Clio Cup France leader David Pouget scored maximum points with his win ahead of Léo Jousset and Jerzy Spinkiewicz to increase the gap on Nicolas Milan, who finished eighth after starting at the tail end of the grid. Third in the general classification and second on Saturday’s race, Léo Jousset picked up his third consecutive success in the Challengers Cup, in which he took the lead from Joran Leneutre thanks to his victory over Jerzy Spinkiewicz and Aurélien Renet. Pierre Monmaneix dominated the Gentlemen Drivers Cup to pick up his first victory, but Mathieu Rigoulet (Vic'Team) extended his lead by finishing second ahead of his closest rival, Lionel Viguier (T2CM).

Clio Cup France and Clio Cup Italia will be back in action on Sunday for qualifying at 11.50 am before race two from Mugello, which will be streamed live on the Renault Clio Series Facebook page and YouTube channel starting at 3.20 pm.

Collective tests 1 - Collective tests 2 - Qualifying 1 - Starting grid - Race 1 - Clio Cup Italia - Clio Cup France