IMO - TTM 2025 Round 1: Imola 1992

An early change at the front

The opening round at IMO - TTM 2025 Round 1: Imola brought together a varied touring-car field of 38 starters for 32 laps, and it was Valentin Knechtel's Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo Evoluzione S1 that emerged with the principal prize. It was not, however, a race won without interruption. Kuba Palubicki's BMW M3 E30 Sport Evolution showed sufficient pace to move ahead of Knechtel by the end of lap five, following an incident involving the pair at Rivazza which left the Alfa temporarily second.

Palubicki's was plainly a serious challenge. He set the fastest lap of the race in 1:52.331, only 0.163 seconds quicker than Celárek's best effort, and for a time placed the BMW at the centre of the afternoon. Yet an 11-second Race Control penalty for an overly optimistic passing attempt with contact complicated his result. Palubicki nevertheless completed the distance in fourth place, behind the three cars which came to define the later race.

Knechtel regained command and, once clear of the shifting contests behind, drove his Alfa through the full 32 laps to take the chequered flag. His official winning margin over SDH-M ~ HappyKojot was 3.091 seconds, a useful but not lavish cushion after an event in which the order behind him remained far from settled.

HappyKojot and Celárek dispute the pursuit

The Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth of SDH-M ~ HappyKojot and Adam Celárek's Holden VL Commodore became increasingly inseparable as the race matured. Celárek had the advantage after lap eight, but HappyKojot reclaimed it before the field had reached the middle portion of the race. From lap 12 onwards they remained closely matched for the greater part of the distance.

Their argument was made more interesting by the presence of Boby Vakuinof's Alfa Romeo. Between laps 12 and 29, HappyKojot, Celárek and Vakuinof formed a three-car group covered by less than five seconds. There was no opportunity for either of the first two to settle entirely into a private duel. Vakuinof remained a persistent third presence in the contest, even if the final classification would place him fifth.

HappyKojot maintained the upper hand when it mattered and completed the race second. Celárek, after a particularly strong showing in the Holden and a fastest lap only a fraction slower than Palubicki's, came home third. Their official separation was 0.972 seconds, the closest margin among the podium finishers. The result gave the opening race a proper touring-car character: differing machinery, changing advantages and no easy assurance for the men contesting the minor places.

The contest further back

Behind the leaders, the race did not become a procession. Nat Stevenson brought another Alfa Romeo home sixth, with Aymen Assabir seventh in the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II and Florian Masse eighth in a Sierra. FMG's Nissan Skyline R31 2000 GTS-R took ninth, while Attila Diner completed the top ten in an Alfa.

Diner's placing only partly conveyed the course of his race. For much of the middle distance he was locked in a close and changeable contest with Marc Orós's Mercedes. Diner moved ahead before lap 14; Orós answered by lap 16. The advantage changed hands again around laps 19, 22 and 23, neither driver being able to make the matter permanent while they remained in close company. Diner ultimately held tenth, while Orós was classified 13th, but their prolonged exchange supplied a lively counterpoint to the more prominent struggle for second.

At the head of the race, then, Knechtel's victory rested less upon an unchallenged run than upon restoring his position after Palubicki's early intervention and preserving it while the pursuers fought among themselves. The German's Alfa had the necessary composure when the race finally began to sort its principal order.

First marks on the season

This was the first of six Championship races, and Knechtel's 40-point score gives him the opening-round victory and the early Championship lead. HappyKojot's second place and Celárek's third ensure that neither will be far from the central story as the series proceeds, while Palubicki's pace suggests that his fourth place may not tell the whole of his potential.

For now, though, Imola belonged to Knechtel. He had lost the lead, regained it, and carried the Alfa through the full distance to establish the first result of the Championship.