Girolami controls TCR finale
A bold first-corner move propelled Nestor Girolami to victory in the second and final FIA TCR World Tour sprint at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.
Girolami flew from the second row, and a bold move around the outside helped him overcome pole-sitter Aurelien Comte, who dropped to fourth as the GOAT Racing Hondas went on the charge.
Esteban Guerrieri reeled in Girolami, but fell 1.4s short as Ignacio Montenegro joined him on the rostrum.
Once again, leading the Aussie charge was Josh Buchan, who took another impressive top five.
This time, he had held off all three Cyan Racing Lynk & Cos, who were on his tail.
Comte off pole managed to get away well, but could stop Girolami from soaring around the outside and into the lead.
Guerrieri settled into third ahead of Montenegro and Buchan in fifth.
Behind the Australian was the trio of Cyan Racing Lynk & Cos, which were all three wide at one stage.
Within two laps Girolami had checked out by more than 2s, and as a result, Comte started to get eaten up by the pack.
GOAT Racing teammates Guerrieri and Montenegro ganged up on the Cupra, which slipped from second to fourth.
Buchan tried to follow through, but his move around the outside was denied by contact from Montenegro.
This brought the Aussie into the clutches of the Lynk & Cos led by Ehrlacher after he picked off Bjork.
But Buchan held firm and stayed out of striking distance until the second half of the race.
A dropped wheel into the dirt on the 11th tour of Turn 5 put Buchan into the clutches of Ehrlacher for the final laps.
However, Buchan held firm with four-tenths the difference.
The biggest battle was for eighth as Ma and Azcona banged doors through the opening chicane, but the Lynk & Co remained in front.
Girolami’s lead had grown to beyond 5s, but that margin kept diminishing as the race went on.
By Lap 11 it had been slashed to less than 2s to set up a tense run to the flag.
However, Guerrieri never quite got close enough for Girolami to get nervous, and he completed a 1.4s win.
Montenegro also kept Comte at bay to put two GOAT Racing Hondas on the podium
Ryan McMillian endured an overnight gearbox change, but still battled hard to be 12th overall and second of the Australians ahead of Zac Soutar, who experienced clutch issues on Saturday.
The FIA TCR World Tour heads to South Korea at Inje Speedium on October 18-19.
image: WSC/Insyde Media
Practice 2: 1: Jamie Whincup 1:50.5875 2: Todd Hazelwood +0.2082 3: Dale Wood +0.3248
Practice 3: 1: Will Brown 1:48.9957 2: Broc Feeney +0.3210 3: Thomas Randle +0.3837
Practice 4: 1 James Moffat 1:50.7387 2 Lee Holdsworth +0.1864 3 Rylan Gray +0.2128
Practice 5: 1 Ryan Wood 1:49.2867 2 Brodie Kostecki +0.0272 3 Broc Feeney +0.0584
Qualifying: 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:49.3947 2 Broc Feeney +0.0081 3 Cameron Waters +0.0628
Top 10 Shootout: 1 Broc Feeney 1:48.6548 2 Cameron Hill +0.1023 3 Brodie Kostecki +0.1286
Warm Up: Sunday 9.30-9.50
Race 26: Sunday 13.45-17.18 102 laps
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