Tabacchi wins in clean air, Paulsen dominates in Am

Emanuele Maria Tabacchi was today the runaway victor in the Trofeo Pirelli race held at the Portimão circuit, whilst in Am class Frederik Paulsen made off with the spoils in a thrilling finale. Race 2 of Trofeo Pirelli was decided at the start, with Emanuele Maria Tabacchi taking advantage of pole position to break and continue edging away lap by lap. John Wartique also made a noteworthy start, leaping from ninth to fourth overall place. Florian Merckx by contrast, dropped down the order after contact and was forced to attempt a comeback. However, Wartique’s flying getaway was deemed be a jump start by race stewards who ordered the Belgian driver in for a drive-through. The same sanction befell fellow countryman and current rival in battle Merckx. The two found themselves contemporarily in the fast lane, a situation that Merckx took advantage of to close the gap. In between the pair, however, was the car belonging to Laskowski. In a bid to overtake, Merckx finished shored up in the grass, with race stewards passing judgement on the Belgian driver shortly after: a five-second penalty for having crossed the blend line outside the pit lane after the drive-through. At the head of the course Tabacchi was by now unbeatable and crossed the finish-line with a 10-second surplus over Fabienne Wohlwend. Third in the class went to Wartique (seventh overall). Trofeo Pirelli Am, however went down to the wire with everything decided over the final four minutes of racing: Matúš Výboh, hampered by the 10-second penalty for contact with Olivier Grotz in the opening stretches of the race, was overhauled by Frederik Paulsen, who, up until that moment had been managing the race. The manoeuvre still allowed Frederik Espersen to go all out on the final lap, but the young Danish driver ended up spinning, but managed to contain the spin and line the car up in the right direction and make it over the final finish-line two seconds ahead of Grotz who was able to celebrate with a third step on the podium. Paulsen, as well as taking the class honours, also took third overall place while Výboh earned a bonus point for the fastest lap.