The penultimate round of the Italian GT Championship saw two very different qualifying sessions; as always when the top drivers get on track fireworks begin, but at the end it was one pole for Mirko Venturi and the Black Bull Ferrari and one for Vito Postiglione and his EbiMotors newly “touched by the BOP” Porsche.
Their respective teammates, Luigi Lucchini and Tommaso Maino clocked a third for Race 1 for the German marquee and a sixth for Race 2 for the Italian supercar. The other title contender, the #1 BMW, saw a very good second place for Stefano Colombo in Race 1 and another strong third for Comandini in race 2. Things didn’t go so well for the second BMW of Michela Cerruti, with a rather disappointing fourth and fifth. And things were even worse for the other Ferrari, with Piero Necchi in for Giuseppe Cirò – who had to skip the Vallelunga weekend due to family problems (best of luck for the very fast driver) – with the MP1 458 only eighth and ninth for the two races.
The Audis, now out of title chase, were only sixth and seventh for Race 1 (praying for a wet race…) and fourth and seventh for Race 2, with the second car of Frassineti-Kristoffersson much more on pace than the Capello-Sonvico one. The Lamborghini was last on the GT3 grid for Race 1, but with a magical lap from Giorgio Sanna locked the number two spot for Race 2.
The latest weather update saw the much anticipated rain hitting the north of Italy hard on Saturday night…would it be coming down in the capital’s surroundings for Sunday’s races?
Qualifying 1 result – here
Qualifying 2 result – here
Gabriele Tosi
