By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis
We can't say that this racing weekend was the most successful for our team, but we should recognize: action in Vallelunga was excellent!
First race. Warm-up lap. Cars are drawing sine waves on the track as drunk ants.
Edoardo Liberati's car is separating from the line of Porsche, but he should start from the second position, by the way! – and he stops beyond the track. The driveshaft is cut off!
Warm-up lap goes on, fans are arguing how much Matteo Cairoli, who is starting from the pole, will "bring" to the nearest pursuer – and at this very moment the above mentioned early talent collides with the bump stop! Total confusion, Antonelli Motorsport team doesn't know if to clutch its head or nervously giggle on the absolutely awkward situation!
Not waiting another incident with the third pilot, the race management postponed the start. When the Liberati's car was removing from the track, discouraged Cairoli returned to the starting grid and... to the pole position. Unexpected decision of the stewards, however, the starting grid is defined by the qualification, and the young pilot was the fastest in it.
A marshal carries the table "5 minutes to start" in front of the pilots, and he is poked out from the track by another marshal with the three minute notification (the principle of relativity in full play?!), signal light... and go!
On the first lap show goes on: firstly Giovanni Berton blocks the wheels having hidden asmoke the crowd storming the turn. Then Oleksandr Gaidai, hardly attacking Ilya Melnikov and Marco Cassar, demonstrates almost rally jump on the kerb.
The cameras cannot stop focusing on the three drivers attached to each other: Alberto De Amicis tailgating Pietro Negra followed by Oleksandr Gaidai.
Angelo Proietti is waltzing from the forth to the tenth position. Gianluca Giraudi is energetically forcing through and possesses the position between De Amicis and Gaidai. We wonder where he found the space because it was very strict there! Amicis is driving certainly slower and Giraudi pushes him into rear bumper – push the accelerator or step forth! As far as Gianluca overruns De Amicis, Oleksandr Gaidai starts his attack trying to overrun Alberto on the outer trajectory! The Italian shifts outside and Gaidai sends the car inside the turn – and here De Amicis crosses the trajectories for the second time!
Of course, it hasn't any good end: collision, De Amicis turned around and lost the position, and Gaidai... he had to face the discussion in the race management turned into 25 seconds of penalty.
O. Gaidai: "According to circuit race rules, it is forbidden to cross the trajectory twice. I was faster and was trying to overrun Alberto on the outer side, he was braking and I had to shift inwards. And he began to press me inside that caused the contact and the turn of De Amicis. I had no place to move. I don't agree with this penalty. In the same situation of the last year in Misano the Italian racer pushed me out in the same manner and there was no penalty. But the only way I have is to rise to the challenge..."
But we are leaping ahead: Gaidai will get the penalty only after the race, and now Giovanni Berton was sent to cross the pit lane, and Gianluca Giraudi continues to force through the leaders group until he bumps into Vito Postiglione who sets a high value on his future bronze podium to give it in without a struggle.
For the pity of the viewers who acquired the taste of the race, the latter finished at that very moment. Of course there was the victory of Matteo Cairoli accompanied on the podium by the Porsche Cup winners of the two previous years – Enrico Fulgenzi and Vito Postiglione. But the most outstanding fact is that Cairoli "brought" 14 seconds to Fulgenzi in 28-minute race! In general, it can be compared to the pace of Kevin Estre on Paul Ricard autodrome the last year – remember when he won 19.2 seconds in 35-minute race?..
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, Vallelunga
Race 1
1. CAIROLI Matteo (Antonelli Motorsport) 19 laps
2. FULGENZI Enrico (Heaven Motorsport) +14.059
3. POSTIGLIONE Vito (Ebimotors) +18.492
...
12. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +1'02.845P
13. WALTER Ben +1 lap
And here, in Vallelunga, 28 minutes were not enough to everybody to clear the air. In the closed parking Davide Roda decided that he hadn't finished yet and, being without a car, literally, I mean with such an expedient as a punch, gave the kick on the helmet of Ilya Melnikov. The helmet is harmless, Melnikov is OK and Roda was told "what a shame" and sent to think over his behavior instead of the Sunday race, having cancelled the Saturday results. We should tell that such a result had to please Roda: he wasn't deprived of the racing license, that's a dear!
Here we could discourse how the stewards would have decided if it had been Ilya Melnikov to offend the Italian racer... But we won't speculate because Melnikov likes to work it out with his competitors on the track, not after the finish. And it's time to go to the start of the Sunday race!
The second weekend race differed from the Saturday show as "Chicago" musical from Tarantino's films. It was clear that Matteo Cairoli would come up from his sixth starting position, and Edoardo Liberati would try to get his own for the missed previous race, that Enrico Fulgenzi, Vito Postiglione and Gianluca Giraudi would forecheck Angelo Proietti starting from the pole.
In fact, the reality was quite different that the plans.
Edoardo Liberati made only 4 laps and then drove to watch the rest of the race from pit lane with a next failure. It wasn't a lucky weekend at all...
Alberto De Amicis demonstrated to the exalted public that he didn't need the push of competitor to turn round on the track and roll away to the end of the peloton – on Sunday the Italian driver did that turn without any help.
Oleksandr Gaidai began to energetically win back the position: due to the yesterday penalty he started from the penultimate line. Double reshuffle with Giovanni Berton in one of the turns was performed with particular gracefulness: it should be a good choreographer's job, and how would it be possible for two Porsche change positions twice so genuinely and carefully, without bumpings, tightness and smoke under the wheels?!
At the same time, Matteo Cairoli reached the third position and bumped up against Vito Postiglione who was particularly inovertaken in Vallelunga.
Within the next 15 minutes Cairoli was trying to overrun Postiglione, and Oleksandr Gaidai was doing the same some positions back in the attack against Pietro Negra. Gaidai succeeded at last, and Negra behind him was so disappointed that he made a mistake and rolled away on the 12th position.
On the last lap Matteo Cairoli, who was seemingly waiting off the beautiful final, at last forced Postiglione to make a mistake and finished in triumph on the second position, following his teammate, Gianluca Giraudi.
And Oleksandr Gaidai finished the race with the 8th result.
O. Gaidai: "The race of today was a good example of the possibility to drive fast and safe. We changed the settings, the car was driven better and I made almost no mistakes within the whole race."
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, Vallelunga
Race 2
1. GIRAUDI Gianluca (Antonelli Motorsport) 18 laps
2. CAIROLI Matteo (Antonelli Motorsport) +3.440
3. POSTIGLIONE Vito (Ebimotors) +4.886
...
8. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +31.536
...
13. NEGRA Pietro (Antonelli Motorsport) +4 laps
We cannot consider this weekend as the most successful in the season, but, without any doubt, it was rememberable, informative and brought a lot of useful practice. The practice that makes perfect, as we know, but it will be of use already in two weeks, on the start of the 6th stage of Porsche Carrera Cup France in Nogaro.