The #1 Villorba Corse Ferrari of Andrea Montermini and Niccolo Schiro recorded its first victory of the 2014 season, taking the lead at the last moment from the polesitting #55 AF Corse Ferrari of Michele Rugolo and Claudio Sdanewitsch. The #74 Nova Race Nissan GT-R GT3 finished on the podium, an impressive showing from Lorenzo Bontempelli and Craig Dolby in the car’s International GT Open debut weekend.
Rugolo led away from fellow front-row starter Jose Perez Aicart in the #61 SMP Racing Ferrari. After a calm start it kicked off a bit further back with the #63 Ombra Racing Ferrari leaving the track at turn three, Stefano Constantini spearing off backwards into the barrier at speed. The crash also claimed the #56 AF Corse Ferrari, with Giorgio Roda beaching the car in the turn three gravel in avoidance of the spinning Constantini.
Schirro in the #1 Ferrari was on the move after the first lap, staying on the outside of Nicky Pastorelli in the #2 V8 Racing Corvette. The Italian’s persistance paying off at turn five, the Ferrari getting ahead and quickly pulling away in third place. Further back, Roman Mavlanov in the #60 SMP Ferrari made an attempt at passing Aditya Patel in the Team Nova Driver Audi coming into the final bend. Mavlanov carried far too much speed, however, and Patel quickly recovering his position.
The race settled down as the pit window opened – both Patel and Mavlanov pitting to hand over to Cesar Campanico and Daniel Zampieri respectively. The cars rejoined the race together. Third-placed Schirro was next to pit, the 95-second stop allowing new tyres to be fitted and Andrea Montermini to climb aboard in relaxed fashion. Montermini rejoined the track in between Campanico and Patel.
Lorenzo Bontempelli had a quiet first stint in the #74 Nova Race Nissan, quietly gaining positions, but the team timed its stop perfectly, releasing the car (now with Craig Dolby onboard) into third place, just as Montermini was putting his foot down hard, passing Campanico, Archie Hamilton in the #4 V8 Racing Corvette and then Joel Camantihas in the #13 Autorlando Porsche 997 for fourth.
Race leader Rugolo in the #55 pitted at the last second to hand over to Claudio Sdanewitsch, keeping the lead and emerging 24 seconds ahead of second placed Vyacheslav Maleev in the #61 SMP Ferrari and the hard-charging Dolby in the Nissan. Dolby took Maleev at turn five in an ultra-late=braking move for second position.
Dolby’s pace was being matched by Montermini as a lap later he was also past Maleev, who let him through with little resistance. Maleev slid down further as Hamilton passed him in the Corvette. It was just not Maleev’s day, as Camathias made a massively brave outbraking move at turn five, coming from a few car lengths back, the car tail sliding past Maleev with slight contact into fifth position.
Maleev tried to fight back on the exit, but spun as a result. Further back, Matt Griffin’s day in the #54 AF Corse F458 was made worse by Stefano Gattuso in the #62 Ombra Racing Ferrari making a poor move at the chicane, doing nothing for either cars’ progress in the race.
Up front, Dolby’s fantastic run was halted by an even better run by Montermini, taking second and then heading off in pursuit of leader Sdanewitsch. Both Dolby and Montermini were up to five seconds faster than Sdanewitsch, so his lead would not last the race distance. This was confirmed with two laps to go when Montermini took the lead at the final bend. Dolby also passed Sdanewitsch on the start-finish straight as the last lap board was shown.
These top positions remained unchanged as the flag dropped at the end, Montermini and Schiro winning both the race and the Super GT class and also going into the lead of the drivers’ championship, given that the #6 Selleslagh Corvette of Maxime Soulet and Isaac Tutumulu was a non-starter following gearbox failure the day before. An impresssive debut from the Nissan, winning the GTS class and giving the little Italian Nova Race team plenty to celebrate.
Ed Fahey
Images: FOTOSPEEDY
