By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis
The main principle of motor sports – "the winner is who has finished first" remains unchanged through the years, but every racing distance (excluding, maybe, drag racing) tries to decorate it with additional rules and requirements that significantly complicate the work of the teams but keep viewers away from boredom.
We've been always stating that rally cross excelled everybody in this tendency, but we cannot but acknowledge that the actual Porsche Cup format is at least less difficult, that means more exciting.
... While the viewers in New Zealand were watching the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, qualification round took place in Monza. Those were fast and short – two 15-minute races, and you snooze, you lose in taking the good position on the starting grid. The second position near the pole position holder, Matteo Cairoli, was occupied by Côme Ledogar. Matteo Torta could demonstrate only the 16th time result. In the second race, where Mikael Grenier and Oleksandr Gaidai started, our team took the 6th and the 13th position.
The Canadian driver was satisfied, but our driver from Odessa was disappointed: "It's very bad. The result is outside the time and the driving mode that I can demonstrate. I lost a second and a half to myself. I have a stressful day today, and my thoughts were away from the race. Tomorrow will be difficult, but I am going to fight."
... While the participants of the Rally of the Lakes in Ireland were looking for the way to the finish through heavy mist, the first race of Porsche Carrera Cup Italia started in Monza.
Côme Ledogar and Matteo Cairoli entered the first turn board by board. Matteo did not find the room on the trajectory, pushed Côme and successfully cut the chicane. Of course, Côme would't have made such a mistake remembering Monza of the last year, but Mattea got away with it and continued to enlarge the distance gap from his competitors.
Enrico Fulgenzi (that is not surprising) pushed Daniele di Amato from the track, and Mattea Drudi did the same maneuver (quite unexpectedly) with Alessio Rovera.
The remaining time of the spring we had the pleasure to watch the Rovera's breakthrough upwards on the online results grid. He managed to finish on the fourth position! Côme Ledogar seemed to win the silver podium without a great deal of difficulty. Matteo Torta finished on the 12th place. Matteo Cairoli won the gold.
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2016, round 1, Monza, 30/04/16 – 01/05/16
Race 1
1. CAIROLI Matteo (Ebimotors srl) 15 laps
2. LEDOGAR Côme (Tsunami RT) +14.281
3. SCALVINI Eric (Dinamic Motorsport srl) +33.903
...12. TORTA Matteo (Tsunami RT) +1:14.108
13. WALTER BEN (Dinamic srl) +1:48.762
... While the well-groomed and elegant rarities shining with polish was moving towards the start of the Historic Cars Rally, we hardly had a moment to take a breath in Monza: Porsche Carrera Cup Italia were already preparing themselves to the start of the second sprint. Oleksandr Gaidai and Mikael Grenier were the drivers of the two vehicles in Tsunami RT colors.
The great start of Oleksandr Gaidai brought him on the 10th position at once, and he began to forecheck his long-time colleague and competitor Alex De Giacomi. Mikael Grenier, on the other hand, missed his start and moved to the eight position, but quickly collected himself and began to win the positions back.
At that moment the cameras for live broadcasting were anchored to the two duels: Mattea Drudi with Kevin Giovesi and Enrico Fulgenzi with Alessio Rovera. Meanwhile, the pole position holder, Matteo Cairoli, was already ahead because he did not want to be involved in their competition. So, it was not so interesting to look at him – the guy who was simply driving towards his victory.
But the leapfrog in the competition for the positions from 2 to 5 continued, and Mikael Grenier was looming behind as a vulture over a battlefield: "I understood that something would happen sooner or later, there would be some problem. It was important for me not to be in the firing line, and also not to miss the moment when somebody would make a mistake."
Mattea Drudi was the first to make a mistake, and Mikael overran him immediately. And then Enrico Fulgenzi (constancy is a sign of mastery!) pushed Alessio Rovera off the track, and then, being in the second half of the peloton already, added some trouble to Kevin Giovesi who got into hot water and just drove through him directly.
Videographers took their breath and and remembered that there were other participants except the four duelists. Mikael Grenier was on the third position already! And Oleksandr Gaidai – on the seventh!
The second race brought the second podium for Tsunami. Excellent result!
O. Gaidai: "I had a possibility to get a higher position, but I had to keep a delicate balance between the speed and preserving of the vehicle, because we had the third race the next day. The vehicle had no damage, and it was great. Anyway, I had no such a bad mood as the previous day, and I hope that it was already in the past.
I was very glad for Mikael Grenier. Today he demonstrated that he could go a long way."
M. Grenier: "It was a good race. I had the great vehicle and it helped me a lot. I tried to drive thoughtfully: without any collisions, and the traffic was intense during the whole race. I had a wonderful competition with Drudi, Rovera and Giovesi. I am very satisfied with the result of my first race. The team did a perfect job!"
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2016, round 1, Monza, 30/04/16 – 01/05/16
Race 2
1. CAIROLI Matteo (Ebimotors srl) 15 laps
2. DRUDI Mattia (Dinamic Motorsport srl) +27.767
3. GRENIER Mikael (Tsunami RT) +29.202
...7. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +37.961
17. GIOVESI Kevin (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport srl) +2 laps
...While in Sochi Nico Rosberg was diligently killing the intrigue in Formila-1, targeting to his forth victory in succession, it started to rain in Monza!
Not many participants of the Italian Porsche Cup know the rainy Monza well, and to all that the drivers had to try the new Michelin rain tires.
O. Gaidai: "These tires more resemble semi-slick as for the texture and the pattern, and nobody understood before the race how they would work. It revealed that they work better on the wet and slightly drying asphalt. It was more difficult in puddles when aquaplaning than on the old rain tires."
Rain stopped 40 minutes before the race, but to the moment of the start of the third race of the weekend (the 45-minute one, with the mandatory pit stop) the track remained wet, and in some places moist. As for the starting order, it is defined by adding of the time results of the first and the second qualifications, and we had to break our heads. In the result Oleksandr Gaidai started the race from the seventh position and Mikael Grenier – from the 13th.
Unexpectedly, one car lacked on the warm-up lap – that of Enrico Fulgenzi refused outright to drive in any direction but the boxes. The race had a rolling start, and the viewers did not manage to understand at once that the race already started: so carefully and gently the PCCI participants were accelerating on the wet track. And it was for a reason: every aggressive maneuver ended with spectacular turns, one of which was immediately demonstrated by Marco Pellegrini.
Mikael Grenier rapidly went up to the 8th position, then overran Eric Scalvini and kept following Oleksandr Gaidai. Oleksandr understood that Mikael needed to win as many positions as possible before he would give the car to Mattea Torta, and the former gave way to the Canadian driver. The first 20 minutes of the race, enlivened by a yet another waltz dance in Rettifiglio performed by some impatient participant, slipped away in one breath, and the wave of pit stops began.
What can we say about the pit stop in the Italian Porsche Cup? Firstly, it is mandatory. Secondly, it may be held only in a certain interval, from 20th to 26th minute. Thirdly, there is a minimum time that each vehicle has to spend on the pit stop and not to restart earlier by no means.
These rules proved their value completely. To begin with, five vehicles were late or forgot to enter the pit stop in time that created additional intrigue in the plot of the race. And just before the final... but it is to early to talk about it. While the Tsunami RT cars where passing the pit stop, rain tires were replaced by the slicks on the No. 13 vehicle, and Ledogar replaced Gaidai. Matteo Torta who replaced Mikael Grenier in the vehicle No. 33 preferred to use rain tires. And two cars were leaping into action.
Daniele di Amato was clung to Côme Ledogar, and they both were making overruns and accelerating... Unfortunately, di Amato gave Ledogar no choice in one of the turns – to collide or to give way. Of course, our driver chose the second option: no matter how active the fight on the track is, Porsche costs some more than two lost qualification points. So, Côme Ledogar finished on the 5th position. Matteo Torta finished the ninth.
Tsunami RT Centro Porsche Padova received a stunning message just before the finish: a minute of penalty for the early leaving of the pit stop! The referees stated that our car had left a whooping one centisecond earlier! Fortunately, it revealed that it was a misunderstanding: although our pit stops were ones of the most fast and accurate of all participants, the team worked perfectly and did not lose any nuance of the not simple rules of the series. We left the pit lane in time, the penalization was canceled, everybody were dancing...
O. Gaidai: "I haven't driven in rain in Monza before. The track is rather specific, and you can lose a lot trying to use the classic wet trajectory.
The new Porsche Carrera Cup Italia format is very interesting, and we should be very attentive: we obtain more points for an endurance race than for the sprints, so finishing in the third race is mandatory.
We wanted to be on the podium, but it was the first race in such a format, and it was very important for us not to make mistakes. The result was not bad, the car had no damage, the team worked perfectly, we had one of the fastest pit stops – everything is great!"
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2016, round 1, Monza, 30/04/16 – 01/05/16
Race 3
1. CAIROLI Matteo (Ebimotors srl) 22 laps
2. DRUDI Mattia (Dinamic Motorsport srl) +34.834
3. ROVERA Alessio (Ebimotors srl) +39.080
...5. GAIDAI Oleksandr/LEDOGAR Côme (Tsunami RT) +49.807
...9. GRENIER Mikael/TORTA Matteo (Tsunami RT) +1 lap
...14. WALTER BEN (Dinamic srl) +2 laps
It is a good time to say that we took breath and went for the well-deserved rest... But it wouldn't be true, and why should you read the lie? Already on Monday the Tsunami team shaped its course to Belgium: Porsche Carrera Cup round in Spa starts on Friday. So stay tuned, you cannot get away from the races anyway! Follow our news!