A flawless performance during the opening stage of the season finale was enough for Scalvini/Tavano (Cupra Leon Competicion) to win Stage-1 at the Misano World Circuit, effectively securing the race lead too. After an intense fight in the opening laps, the Wimmer Werk Motorsport pair never looked back, thus taking home full points after the first half of the race.
Starting from pole, Eric Scalvini (Cupra Leon Competicion) had to fend off the early attacks of championship leader Yuri Brigliadori (Audi RS3 LMS). The two fought throughout the opening two laps of the race, before coming together at the Carro corner. The aftermath of the contact saw Brigliadori come to halt with extensive damage to his front left suspension, forcing him to end his Stage-1 prematurely. On the other hand, Scalvini was able to continue without any repercussions. Behind him, Ibrahim Okyay (Audi RS3 Gen-1) put in a fantastic display: after starting from sixth place, the Turkish veteran was able to get past Alessandro Alcidi (VW Golf DSG) on the opening lap, before picking apart both Emilio Damante (Audi RS3 DSG) and Senna Summerbell (Cupra Leon DSG) to reach second. Summerbell held third, as well as the DSG lead, while Damante tried to put him under pressure, keeping him in check throughout the first stint.
As the pit stop window opened, Scalvini was the very first driver to come in, letting Salvatore Tavano in the leading #6 Cupra to get the job done. Okyay and Damante swiftly followed suit, leaving the car to Sinan Çiftçi and Edoardo Maccari respectively. This left Summerbell in the provisional lead of the race, with Alcidi in second and Bernhard Stitz (Hyundai Elantra N) in third. The Austrian pitted a lap later, as he looked to finish in the top-5 on his very first outing in the series promoted by Mauricio Slaviero, with Berk Kalpaklıoğlu (Audi RS3 DSG) and Leonardo Cuppari (VW Golf DSG) doing the same. The two had been fighting for fourth in the DSG class, and left that job to Umut Göktaş and Roberto Armogida.
At last, Summerbell came in too; despite the 5 additional seconds spent in the pits – a standard rule, as he’s racing solo this weekend – he was able to jump the #1 TEXACO Team AMS entry, effectively rejoining in second. However, Çiftçi swiftly took the position back towards the Quercia corner, as Summerbell was still trying to bring his tyres in the right temperature window. This promoted the Gen-1 entry to second place, relegating Summerbell to third while still enabling him to hold the DSG lead, though Maccari was within just three seconds of the Jamaican.
The second half of the stage was relatively straightforward: out in front, Tavano was unreachable for the rest of the field, as he crossed the line with a 70-second gap over second place. This marks the fifth stage win of the season for Scalvini/Tavano (Cupra Leon Competicion), who are now in the lead of the overall standings after overtaking Yuri Brigliadori, who failed to bring home points in Stage-1. Second place went to Çiftçi/Okyay (Audi RS3 Gen-1), while Senna Summerbell (Cupra Leon DSG) was able to retain third overall as well as the DSG lead. Damante/Maccari (Audi RS3 DSG) kept their DSG title hopes alive thanks to their second-place class finish, as they crossed the line in fourth overall in front of Bernhard Stitz (Hyundai Elantra N). The Austrian made the most of his debut performance, overtaking the VW Golf DSG of brothers Alessio and Alessandro Alcidi for fifth position in the overall standings while finishing second in the Gen-2 class. The Alcidi brothers were therefore sixth, also enjoying a third-place finish in the DSG standings, with Kalpaklıoğlu/Göktaş (Audi RS3 DSG) and Cuppari/Armogida (VW Golf DSG) in seventh and eighth respectively. After their contact on lap two with the winning duo, Yuri and Eric Brigliadori couldn’t bring their car to the finish line.
With the second stage yet to take place, everything is still to play for: Stage-2, which is set to start at 17:45 local time, will in fact crown the 2025 TCR European Endurance champions, as the second half of the race is set to close the curtains on the season at night time. Stage-2 will once again be broadcast live on TCR TV’s official YouTube Channel, with Daniele Spadi on commentary duties.
