Torelli unbeatable on home turf

On Sunday afternoon, Gabriele Torelli lined up on pole position after dominating the qualifying session at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Friday. On the 49-car Clio Cup grid, the Italian started ahead of Anthony Jurado and maintained the lead despite the Frenchman's attempts, while Luca Franca (MC Motortecnica) was surprised by David Pouget and Cristian Ricciarini (Essecorse).

In an action-packed field, with Alex Lancellotti (Faro Racing) the only opening lap victim, Anthony Jurado kept pushing, but Gabriele Torelli did what was needed under braking to stay in the lead. Meanwhile, Cristian Ricciarini lost his fourth place when he went straight on at the first chicane before the safety car came out following the accident at the Variante Ascari involving Tim Gabor (GM Sport) and Jacopo Giuseppe Cimenes (Essecorse), later penalisd for his responsibality.

At the restart, Anthony Jurado took advantage of Gabriele Torelli's slipstreaming to take the lead in the Rettifilo chicane as David Pouget looked on. The latter overtook Gabriele Torelli on lap seven. Nicolas Milan was next on the following lap, but the hierarchy changed again when Anthony Jurado went wide at the Variante Ascari.

Inheriting the lead, David Pouget tried to break the gap to the chasers but lost position to Gabriele Torelli after a great duel at the Curva Grande. This move proved decisive as the race ended behind the safety car after Ivan Mandić (Tempo Racing Team) collided with Rene Steenmetz (Cherfo Sport) at the entrance to the Variante Ascari.

Gabriele Torelli made it two wins from two races on home soil ahead of French rivals David Pouget and Nicolas Milan. Relegated to seventh position after his mistake, Anthony Jurado climbed back to fourth place ahead of Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing) and Julien Baziret, winner in the Challengers category. After Luca Franca's collision with Tomas Pekar (Carpek Racing) on the last lap under green flag conditions, Challengers Mattia Lancellotti (Faro Racing), Alejandro Schimpf (AST Competition), Giacomo Trebbi (MC Motortecnica) and Adrian Schimpf (AST Competition) completed the top ten while Marc Fleurance won in Racers Cup ahead of Alessandro Alcidi (Tuder Motorsport) and teammate Sébastien Gehin (T2CM).

At the end of the weekend gathering 30,000 spectators, Nicolas Milan and David Pouget are now tied on points at the top of the Clio Cup Series, while Gabriele Torelli moves up to third place in his first appearance of the season. Fourth-place finisher Adrian Schimpf is the highest-ranked Challenger, while Luca Franca is the highest-ranked Racer in 15th place.

CLIO CUP EUROPE

With the win ahead of David Pouget and Nicolas Milan, Gabriele Torelli scored maximum points and left Monza a top the general classification. Sixth place finisher Julien Baziret won the Challengers Cup to narrow the point difference to three from leader Mattia Lancellotti, who finished second today ahead of Alejandro Schimpf. Meanwhile, Andrea Chierichetti inherited the win in the Racers Cup ahead of Benjamin Cauvas (GPA Racing) and Daniele Pasquali (Tuder Motorsport) and is now on equal points with Luca Franca.

CLIO CUP ITALIA

In the Clio Cup Italia, Jerzy Spinkiewicz took the lead from Luca Franca on lap eight to go for the win ahead of Challengers Mattia Lancellotti and Giacomo Trebbbi. Cristian Ricciarini was fourth and still leads the general classification while Alessandro Brigatti (Progetto E20 Motorsport) completed the podium in the Challenger Cup, still led by Mattia Lancellotti. In the Racers Cup, Alessandro Alcidi got the better of Sandro Cutini (Faro Racing), who is the new points leader, and Due (Oregon Team).

CLIO CUP MID-EUROPE

Gabriele Torelli also achieved a perfect result in the Clio Cup Mid-Europe, winning again in front of Anthony Jurado and Julien Baziret, who won for a second time this weekend in the Challengers Cup ahead of Guillaume Maio (GM Sport) and Nikola Miljkovic (Tempo Racing Team). Meanwhile, Sebastien Gehin cruised to victory to extend his lead in Racers Cup..

The next Clio Cup Series event takes place at Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours from 5-7 May. The weekend will feature Clio Cup France and Clio Cup España before the Spa-Francorchamps meeting, where Clio Cup Europe, Clio Cup France, Clio Cup Italia and Clio Cup Mid-Europe will battle on 26-28 May.

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