Nicola Baldan prevails as punctures strike leaders at Circuit Paul Ricard

Nicola Baldan prevails as punctures strike leaders at Circuit Paul Ricard

Nicola Baldan won the opening TCR Europe race at Circuit Paul Ricard, as early leaders Mikhail Simonov and Mike Halder were struck by punctures. Pole-sitter Viktor Andersson came under early pressure from the Audi of Baldan at the start, whilst further back Hong Kong racer victor Chan made the mother of all jump starts, for which he would later be penalised with five seconds added to his race time. Exiting the first corner, Marco Butti came back…