The stage for Round 3 of the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo was the Ferrari test track at Mugello, in July, deep into the Tuscany hills; not a bad setting for the two Sunday races.
The “wild card” Ferrari of Stroll-Segal would be a non-starter due to damage incurred during a free practice accident, but the Autorlando Porsche – after a late-night for the team – was sporting a brand new engine, as was the second Audi of Capello-Sonvico; so there would be 17 starters in total.
The weather was a rather warm 30°C for the morning race, with no threat of rain; so the first question – was could the Avon tyres last the 48 minutes+ 1 lap race? Would BMW be back on top? Would Ferrari have “home field advantage”? Could Porsche score “two damage limitations result” on its least-favourite track? Let’s find out! But first the time penalties: Lucchini-Postiglione would have to stop 20 seconds extra, Cirò-Lancieri for an extra 10 seconds and five extra for Michela Cerruti.
The dramas began even before the end of the formation lap, with the TV pictures showing a very slowly moving car…the Antonelli Porsche GT3 R of Mapelli, which shortly afterwards stopped with driveshaft failure; definitely not the start Mapelli’s teammate Passuti wanted on home soil. The remaining 16 cars took the start and – as there is no substitute for power –Barri unleashed all his “angry ponies” and turned the first corner…first.
Frassineti was able to keep second, with Cirò third and followed by the other 458 of Pezzucchi. The BMWs started slowly, with Colombo is in front of Cerruti, then came Sonvico, Maino and Lucchini. Tutumlu started last but soon found himself in the pit because the front splitter had too much movement for a very high downforce track like Mugello.
Barri simply flew away from the pack in the first laps, amassing as much as five seconds in three laps; could the Bull finally score hard? Apparently not, because after those initial flying laps, Cirò slowly but steadily began to gain tenths with every lap and soon a trio of cars was forming upfront – Barri, Frassineti and Cirò; and a little bit further behind another trio was racing nose to tail, with the black 458 Italia of Pezzucchi stuck in fourth place and with the two BMWs unable to overtake the very fast Ferrari (some 10 kmh faster than anyone else on the main straight).
Despite this bunching, nothing changed before the pit window opened and, after everyone had handed off their car to their teammate, the new leader was…the old one. In fact Sanna-(Barri) was able to keep the lead of the race from Frassineti (who was driving solo this weekend) and Comandini-(Colombo). Michela Cerruti was now fourth, but Venturi-(Maino) was pressing the lady very hard. Lancieri-(Cirò) was now only sixth, after his 10 second extra stop, then La Mazza-(Pezzucchi), Capello-(Sonvico) and Postiglione-(Lucchini). Suddenly, though, we had the sight of an Audi driving on only three fully-inflated wheels, and it was Frassineti’s; a right rear puncture ending hid hopes of a top result. Moments later, Venturi attacked and passed Cerruti, for what was now P3.
Upfront, the pace of the black beauty Gallardo of Sanna wasn’t enough to prevent Comandini from latching on to the rear wing of the Imperiale car, but for a while the BMW was unable to overtake the Italian supercar, thanks to its superior top speed. It wasn’t long, however, before the overtaking move took place – in the final corner – and Comandini assumed the lead. Venturi, in the fast charging Black Bull Ferrari, also soon overtook Sanna for second. Just outside the podium places, Cerruti was fourth, Lancieri fifth and being pressed hard by Capello, then La Mazza, rapidly falling away from the second Audi, and Postiglione, who put the EbiMotors Porsche into “overdrive” mode and began to clock very fast laps.
The battle for the win was far from over, however, because despite the “warp top speed” of the Ferrari, the BMW was so good on the twisty part of the track that Venturi was unable to complete the move…but for sure he’d try until the very last lap. As the last two laps began the order was changing again as Cerruti finally had the best out of the struggling Lamborghini of Sanna; so two BMWs on the podium…for now. But it was confirmed soon that they would be the lower steps of the podium, as a very “angry” Venturi outbraked as the penultimate lap began and fell back. The final drama saw Audi complete a very depressing race as Capello dramatically slowed on the last lap and finished only ninth behind Frassineti.
In the end it was a Ferrari win on home soil for Venturi-Maino, but a very good podium for both of the BMWs.
Fourth was the lone Lamborghini of Sanna-Barri, from another Ferrari of Cirò-Lancieri. The hard-charging award went Postiglione in the EbiMotors Porsche in sixth, with the black 458 of La Mazza-Pezzucchi in seventh ahead of the two troubled Audis.
The Cup Class was won by Giondi-Donaviti, as both Babini-Bianco and Pan-Jacoma had a full 30 seconds extra to serve at the stop. Second was Marco Magli, with Babini third, while Mimmo Schiattarella finished only fifth on his return to Italian soil.
Race 2 would be much different as the time penalties now spread to five cars, but it was still hard to see the winning car being anything other than a Ferrari…
The sun was still shining on the Mugello circuit for the late afternoon second GT, but it seemed to shine a little bit better for the “home field” car like the Ferrari and the BMW, which always love this circuit. The troubled cars that finished Race 1 were still in trouble, it seemed. The engine of the second Audi of Sonvico-Capello was still not performing at 100% and the Audi Sport Italia team also had to change the gearbox for this second race, but they were faring better than the Antonelli Porsche of Mapelli-Passuti, which wouldn’t be starting the race due to technical problems unrelated to the earlier driveshaft failure. A ‘double zero’ points finish may actually in some way help the team, because at the end of the year they won’t have to drop a result, but with the field so tight the team would surely drop out of the championship picture, for now at least.
Last but not least the time penalties to be added to the normal driver change time: 15 seconds for Venturi-Maino (pole for this race), 10 for Comandini-Colombo, five for Michela Cerruti and five for Postiglione-Lucchini, still suffering from their good results in the first two rounds.
The start is more like a BTCC one than a GT, with the field completing the pace lap very slowly, maybe too slowly, and with mayhem ensuing as soon as the lights went green. Sanna clearly jumped the start a little bit, and almost at the end of the straight at some points it was 5-cars abreast and that for sure wouldn’t fit into the width of the track. Somehow Lancieri outbraked the front row and gained the lead of the race. This only lasted for half a corner, however, as Venturi said “pardon me, I’d like to lead again”; the two Ferraris touching several times. Postiglione, now third, decided to think for a second more than his instincts suggested and kept his nose clean, while behind the two Audis and the two BMWs were also making contact with each other. Frassineti’s luck clearly hadn’t improved during the day and he saw his race end with another rear puncture, and some suspension trouble too, this time at the front. Was that everything? Not quite, because Venturi, clearly surprised by the other Ferrari’s robust move lost the third place to Comandini. The real winner in this half-a-lap chaos was Sanna, because he found himself fifth without a scratch on his car.
Cerruti followed him, ahead of Capello and La Mazza.
Venturi soon regained the spot from Comandini (who had a very wide-moment at the Arrabbiata 2 curve, a fifth gear right hander) and began his pursuit of the other front runners. Meanwhile, the lone remaining (healthy for now) Audi driven by Dindo Capello outbraked Michela Cerruti on Lap 3 for the sixth spot, and this soon became fifth with a very hard, but clean (as ever with Dindo) move on Sanna.
The race was now well alight and Venturi took the second place from Postiglione on the main straight (some revised BOP will follow for sure…). Postiglione himself struggled to keep the car on track – clearly this track is not suited to the Weissach car.
Two laps later Venturi completed his pursuit of the lead, overtaking with a hard (not so clean) move on Lancieri. A little further behind, the Lamborghini of Sanna was struggling, having the second BMW of Cerruti firmly stick on its rear bumper, and would soon retire with an alternator failure, following a subsequent exit into the gravel.
A lap later Venturi dived into the pit, which was strange as the driver change window was not yet open – a right-rear puncture soon revealing itself. The new leader was yet again Lancieri, with Postiglione second and Comandini third, still trying every move to overtake the EbiMotors Porsche. Fourth was now Capello, but a long way back, followed by Cerruti, La Mazza, Tutumlu and Venturi, who was now last in class.
The very exciting first part of the race ended with the commencement of the driver changes, and after all were completed the leader was still the MP1 Corse Ferrari of Cirò-(Lancieri), 10 second ahead of Lucchini-(Postiglione). Then came Colombo-(Comandini), Sonvico-(Capello), Cerruti, Tutumlu-(Spavone) and Pezzucchi-(La Mazza)…but we were missing from the standing Maino’s Ferrari; another left rear puncture having ended his challenge for the top places.
A lap later Colombo overtook Lucchini for second overall, while Tutumlu had a very wide moment and a trip through the gravel; but this time the troubled Autorlando Porsche seemed to stay in one piece. As the last five minutes of the race began the order was looking reasonably set, with Cirò leading by almost 15 seconds from Colombo. Lucchini was third and four seconds ahead of Sonvico, who had five seconds on Cerruti. However, Lady Luck turned her back once more on Audi as Sonvico picked up a right-rear puncture just as a podium finish seemed possible; and that was the last drama in a race that turned upside down all the certainties we had had up until that point.
Ferrari won again, with a dominant performance, while Comandini finished second yet again for BMW and remained winless for the season. Lucchini finished third for Porsche on its worst track of the entire calendar, with Cerruti fourth, La Mazza fifth, Tutumlu sixth, and the two “tyre-troubled-cars” of Sonvico and Maino seventh and eighth.
The cup class was won by Bianco-Babini, who overcame a hard time penalty, with Magli second and the “comeback boy” Schiattarella finishing third with Quinzio.
At the end of a very exciting weekend, BMW scored good points with two second places, while Porsche limited the potential damage, but only with the still-points-leading duo of Lucchini-Postiglione. Audi, meanwhile, fell into a deep spiral of bad luck and problems. Lamborghini was still suffer from its heavy weight, while Ferrari seemed to fly away from everyone; a possible 1-2 in the second race perhaps being prevented only by the not-so-clever start by Venturi, who soon found problems. The next round will be at Imola in two weeks. We suspect the BOP will be revised, but can anyone find a decent formula for all cars?
Results:
Gabriele Tosi
All images ©acisportitalia
