Imola Report

Boardman continues Podium Run

Tom Boardman continued his run of podium finishes in the Yokahama Independents Trophy of the WTCC at Imola, Italy. The last European round of the WTCC produced two of the most exciting races of the season, as the world’s top saloon car drivers put on a tremdous display of hard racing around the 4.9km parkland circuit.

The Special Tuning (UK) Ltd run SEAT Leon proved extremely competitive in the races, despite some early problems in practice having restricted qualifying performance. In qualifying the Club SEAT UK car was only 0.8s off the class pole, but the Lancashire driver found himself in 21st place, 7th Independent, the competitive nature of the championship being demonstrated once again.

The rolling start for Race 1 had the 25 cars charging into the first high speed chicane very tightly packed, and whilst the leading three cars all had contact in the braking area, they managed to get through the corner without too much drama. Further back however two of the factory SEATs made contact and delayed many of the remaining cars, Tom finding himself already 14 seconds behind at the end of the first lap in 17th place. However the strong pace and excellent race craft meant that the 25 year old was able make steady progress during the race, soon putting himself in to an excellent 10th overall, 2nd Independent, and challenging Triple World Champion, Andy Priaulx for 8th and with it Pole for Race 2. Unfortunately a mistake by the BMW driver, although allowing Tom to overtake him, also allowed Felix Porteiro to pass them both. Finishing strongly as ever, in 10th overall just 10 seconds behind the overall winner, and 3rd Independent ensured a podium visit for the third consecutive meeting.

Race 2 proved to be more difficult with a number of incidents around him, causing delays and costing positions, and the car seemed to lack some of the race 1 pace in which Tom had set a fastest lap faster then two of the cars in the Top 6. Although he was able to run competitively with many of the Independents for much of the race, damage sustained as he was passed by a couple of factory cars meant that it was 5th Independent by the time the finish line was reached. Still it was another strong meeting, with good points scored as the Championship heads for Asia for the final two meetings; indeed Tom was still at the track at midnight, helping the team pack the car and equipment into the shipping container for the trip to Japan.