A very warm sun welcomed the Italian GT cars and drivers to race day at the historic track of Imola. After the two qualifying session of Saturday we learned that Imola wasn’t a Porsche track anymore, instead that the “home” heroes of Ferrari should have a very good day. But starting from pole was the Audi of Sonvico, and we couldn’t count out the BMWs, which were still strong despite the lowest top speed of all cars.
Race 1
The start – almost a clean one saw, surprisingly – saw Andrea Sonvico able to keep the pole into the Tamburello chicane, even though there were suspicions that he had jumped the green lights a bit. Giuseppe Cirò stayed second, while Christian Passuti outbraked Stefano Comandini for the third spot, followed by Fabio Mancini in another 458, Tommaso Maino, Johan Kristoffersson, Giorgio Sanna, Michele Cerruti and Luigi Lucchini.
There wasn’t long to wait for the first big moment of the race – Sanna’s Lamborghini spinning at the exit of Tosa, after a tiny kiss from Cerruti’s BMW on the rear that was enough to makes the bull even angrier. No penalty was given to the second BMW, so it had been considered to be a racing incident.
Soon the line of cars was split into various parts, with Sonvico able to keep Cirò behind and increase his lead to three seconds, while Passuti was still third but now almost ten seconds behind the leading duo; and he had his work cut-out to contain Comandini and Mancini. There was then a huge gap before another quartet of cars – Maino, Kristoffersson, Cerruti and Lucchini – the last of these being way off the pace of his teammate Vito Postiglione this weekend and unable to making any progress at all in the Ebimotors Porsche.
Two laps later Mancini overtook Comandini at the huge braking point of the Rivazza for the fourth spot. The order saw no further changes before the driver changes window opens, and after all handovers had been completed the leader was, as predicted, Dindo Capello-(Sonvico) from Marco Mapelli-(Passuti), Andrea Dromedari-(Mancini)…
…Mirko Venturi-(Maino), Michela Cerruti, Alex Frassineti-(Kristoffersson) Postiglione-(Lucchini), and Gabriele Lancieri-(Cirò) – who found himself guilty of a driver change infringement and had to serve a drive through, zeroing any changes of a good result by the “hottest” Ferrari on track. Last was the still-circulating Gallardo of Giacomo Barri-(Sanna).
Soon Venturi overtook Dromedari and began the hunt of Mapelli and the second overall spot. Mapelli himself tried for several laps to gain time on Capello, but maybe this was Audi’s day – Dindo lost no more than a few tenths each lap and the real battle was for the second place.
For lap after lap, Venturi was a good second quicker than Mapelli, and it was surely only a matter of time before the rear wing of the Porsche was in the sights of the Black Bull Ferrari. A little way further back, first Cerruti and then, a lap later, Frassineti overtook Dromedari; both passes taking place at the Variante Alta. Even further back, Postiglione attacked and passed Colombo for seventh place.
The final two laps saw the anticipated move by Venturi on Mapelli. It was a clean one, with the Ferrari clearly a superior car both on top speed and under braking; but all lights were shining, finally, on Audi, as Dindo Capello crossed the line first for the first time this year, to the joy of Audi Sport Italia.
Venturi finished second, with Mapelli third to make up a podium full of talent.
Michela Cerruti finished fourth and top BMW, followed by Frassineti in the second Audi and Dromedari in the Easy Race Ferrari, who just pipped Postiglione. Colombo finished eighth, Lancieri ninth and Barri tenth to complete the GT3 class.
The GT Cup race was a very good one, with the pro drivers splitting the scene. Luca Rangoni drove a very clean and fast first stint, but his teammate Massimo Omar Galbiati was unable to contain a “demon” Fabio Babini, who overcame a full 30 seconds extra on his stop (and a much slower stint from Riccardo Bianco) to overtake Galbiati two laps from the end.
Race 2
After yet another different race winner, Race 2 marked the start of the second half of the season with the provisional standings showing just eleven points covering the top four pairs. The starting drivers for this contest would be the faster ones, so there should be fireworks from the start of the race; and with the time penalties during the driver change widely spread, it would require a good performance from the “number 2” drivers to hang on to their positions.
The temperature both on track and inside the cockpit of every car was well above “the warning point” and, as has been the case for most of the season, the start was another typical Italian casino with every car pretty much out of position. Venturi was able to keep the lead despite a hard charge by both Lancieri and Postiglione. The best start of all, though, went to Barri, who guessed the right line at the right time and found himself fourth (from ninth) out of the Tamburello chicane.
Mapelli recovered from an indifferent start to begin the chase to the front, taking first Frassineti and than Capello.
A lap later the cameras showed a standing black Ferrari, but Dromedari, Mancini’s teammate, was able to restart the car, but only after losing more than a lap to the others; and he wasn’t the only victim of electrical gremlins – Michela Cerruti first spinning at the exit of the Villeneuve chicane and then doing a double one at the Acque Minerali curve, as a result of the electrical system managing the traction control and the braking balance reading bad data. A lap was lost in the pit while the problem was worked on.
Upfront, Mapelli took position from Colombo on the main straight, taking advantage of the top speed of his Porsche versus the Z4; but the man on fire was Venturi, who was extending his lead by more than a second per lap.
Lancieri was still second and Postiglione third, unable to challenge the red 458 for the second overall spot. Driving a lonely race in fourth place was Barri, with a surprisingly quick pace, with Mapelli now fifth, Colombo sixth and then the two Audis.
The race rapidly reached its midway point and, with the exception of Venturi – almost 15 seconds in the lead – the field was closely bunched.
After the pitstops, Maino-(Venturi) was leading with an 8-second advantage to Lucchini-(Postiglione). Third was now Sanna-(Barri), 12 seconds down, fourth Kristoffersson-(Frassineti), fifth Maino, in the first of the Audis, then Passuti-(Mapelli) and Comandini-(Colombo) very close together.
The last part of the race served up two major incidents: Firstly Sanna, suffering the usual problems of the Lamborghini’s extra weight, was losing grip, with a subsequent mistake at the Villeneuve chicane costing him a podium spot; but the major one happened just two minutes before the end of the race, as Gabriele Gardel had a major shunt at the Variante Alta chicane destroying his Ebimotors GT Cup Porsche, thankfully without any injury beyond his pride. Since the track was almost blocked and full of debris, the race director had no choice but to red flag the race.
In the end it was a dominant victory for the Black Bull Ferrari, and a very good second place for the Ebimotors Porsche of the still-points-leading Postiglione and Lucchini. A very good third place, too, for Frassineti-Kristoffersson, who salvaged some pride for Audi.
The Cup class was won by Marco Magli and Alessandro Baccani, who dominated the race.
Rangoni-Galbiati finished second in front of Babini-Bianco.
Results:
Race 1 – here
Race 2 – here
Now the championship will switch down the lights for more than a month, before restarting in September. The next round will again be at Imola, followed by Vallelunga at the end of September and the final round at Monza in mid-October.
In the standings, Postiglione-Lucchini still lead with 93 points, Venturi-Maino have 86, Lancieri-Cirò 75, Colombo-Comandini 64 and Passuti-Mapelli 62. Sonvico-Capello has 55 and, right now, only a slim chance of repeating their 2011 title.
Enjoy the vacation. We hope everyone will be back in September, since the coming days in Italy will be as hot as the Mohave Desert.
Gabriele Tosi
All images ©acisportitalia
