By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis

 

The well-known phrase about that if the destiny gives you a lemon you should make lemonade of it, suits best to characterize the racing weekend of June in Misano. Preparing of lemonade of the abundantly provided lemons is what the Tsunami RT Centro Porsche Padova was doing within three days. You know, we coped with it well enough! Consider it yourselves...

Only three team drivers of four participated in free practices: Côme Ledogar was able to come only to the time of the second qualification. And he (not surprisingly) would get only the sixth place on the starting grid of the race of the following day. Oleksandr Gaidai also demonstrated the sixth time in the first qualification being ahead the Canadian driver Mikael Grenier by one position. Matteo Torta would start from the 13th position.

O. Gaidai: "Taking into account the fact that I have 25 kg of additional weight in my car, it is a pretty good result. Yes, I could not tumble over myself. But I passed the distance rather decently."

 

 

 

The first race started on Saturday morning. To close the issue about the winner at once we should say that Mattia Drudi started from the pole position, did not break anything and did not make any mistake. It is enough, isn't it? Let us Drudi drive forward in splendid solitude, and we turn to more exciting events on the track.

Both Oleksandr Gaidai and Mikael Grenier started very successfully, having overrun Simone Iaquinta in the very first turns. Daniele Di Amato overran Enrico Fulgenzi, but the latter literally grasped the competitor's bumper and was hanging on it without opening the jaw, justifying his nickname "Doberman". All that was happening at the average (!) speed of 213 kph.

Mikael Grenier was attacked by three competitors at the same time: Iaquinta who had come to his senses, Eric Scalvini and Alex De Giacomi. The Canadian was utterly correct – he gave way to Iaquinta with the "tag" of two more competitors avoiding a collision, but he won back one position fast having overrun Eric Scalvini.

 

 

We had not enough time to feel happy about that fact, because Scalvini saw the rear bumper of the Tsunami RT car in front of him and pushed it. Our driver spun (does it remind you anything?), Scalvini drove ahead, and Mikael found himself on the 13th position.

Meanwhile, Di Amato ahead started to mistake under Fulgenzi's pressure, and Simone Iaquinta finally overran Oleksandr Gaidai. Oleksandr followed Iaquinta's pace, but was not inclined to risk: an intact car is always better than a broken one, especially when there are two races ahead, the first today and the second tomorrow.

Despite the traditional scenario, in the fight of Enrico Fulgenzi and Daniele Di Amato for bronze, the latter made a mistake by himself. Drudi, Rovera and Fulgenzi climbed on the podium. Oleksandr Gaidai was the sixth. Mikael Grenier managed to battle through to the ninth position within the time remaining after the collision.

 

 

That was the lemon – our team was not on the podium, but we made not a bad lemonade of it – clear and stable driving of Oleksandr and the decisive break-through of Mikael.
C. Ledogar: "This is the best Oleksandr's race in this season – he was very fast and was driving without mistakes, that is an important task of a driver!"

O. Gaidai: "The result is normal: 5th or 6th place is mine, I feel so for the moment. I have to practice much more, and on Italian circuits, to fight for the podium all the time. But local drivers can get there in hour or two, and we have to spend two days for tests, and it is not always possible."

Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2016, round 3, Misano, 11-12/06/16
Race 1

1. DRUDI Mattia (Dinamic Motorsport srl) 17 laps
2. ROVERA Alessio (Ebimotors) +4.150
3. FULGENZI Enrico (TAM Racing) +10.365
...6. GAIDAI Oleksander (Tsunami RT) +17.963
...9. GRENIER Mikael (Tsunami RT) +38.167
...14. WALTER BEN (Dinamic srl) +1 lap

 

The most tiring thing in racing weekends is many hours of pause between the starts. But the schedule is composed in such a manner that the next Porsche Carrera Cup Italia after the morning start of Saturday begins in the evening of the same day. So, Matteo Torta and Côme Ledogar were on the start.

Just from the start Côme began to demonstrate how to make lemonade, and even better – champagne on the podium, of the lemon of the 6th starting position. He made no delays behind the competitors' backs: one lap brought him plus one position, so did the second one... Côme was already the third after three laps!

 

Finally we got the chance to see something interesting also in the challenge for the leadership. Mattia Drudi seemed to be asleep at the start, and Alessio Rovera got his advantage immediately.

Di Amato and Fulgenzi had the same position after the one day pause and continued with the duel as if they hadn't stopped it from the morning.
Eric Scalvini could not share the turn with his teammate, Alex De Giacomi, and they both spun.

Meanwhile Drudi came to his senses and rushed to take the leading position away from Rovera. It was not that simple: Alessio was desperately opposing, Drudi became angry, signaling with lights... And on the 11th lap Rovera's nerves were frayed, he made a mistake and gave way to both Drudi and Côme Ledogar.

 

 

"Silver" in the race on the start from the sixth position, and two positions won back by Matteo Torta are the "lemonade" of the second Saturday race. And we have the podium, my friends! We keep our tradition of no round without the prize podium!

C. Ledogar: "I am very happy that I am on the podium, and the car has no single score mark. I did my best, and believe me, it was not possible to get better results: it is an utopia to catch up Drudi having started from the sixth position!"

 

 

Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2016, round 3, Misano, 11-12/06/16
Race 2

1. DRUDI Mattia (Dinamic Motorsport srl) 17 laps
2. LEDOGAR Côme (Tsunami RT) +1.995
3. ROVERA Alessio (Ebimotors) +5.077
...11. TORTA Matteo (Tsunami RT) +47.353
...15. DI AMATO Daniele (Dinamic Motorsport srl) +1 lap

 

 

Sunday was the moment of truth. 45-minute race is difficult by itself because the mandatory pit stop in the middle, and now add the recent rain to it. The track was not wet already, but damp, so we had to use the slicks, but very thoughtfully.

O. Gaidai: "The weather like this demonstrates who is the driver and who has simply remembered how to steer the wheel to the right and to the left. Difficult weather conditions make us to think and to look for the right trajectory."

But it appears that the search of the right trajectory is not the main thing, when Eric Scalvini is behind you. Double number three: Porsche No. 28 pushed the Tsunami RT car off the track again! It was not funny anymore: Oleksandr Gaidai could not start the engine for 20 seconds, and he found oneself on the 14th position on the very first lap! Scalvini obtained 20 seconds of penalization for the collision, but it did not help Oleksandr to get the lost positions back...

At the same time, Mikael Grenier reached the fifth position after two laps having started from the 9th one!

 

 

Simone Iaquinta unceremoniously pushed Enrico Fulgenzi aside. The latter did not even opposed to it because he could not recover from such an insolence. Fulgenzi was unlucky that day: his sparring partner Daniele Di Amato fell out of the race on the first lap, and the former missed him within the following 45 minutes of the race.

Oleksandr Gaidai won two positions back, then it was the pit stop scheduled, and (there was one more lemon) it lasted 15 seconds more than for other drivers: the winners of the previous round win not only the cups but the time handicap.

The wave of pit stops was the cause of Mikael Grenier's leading position. Then there was the shift of drivers, and, of course, Matteo Torta became the leader of the peloton.
We have to give proper respect to the young Italian, he managed to resist until the real leaders moved him back. Meanwhile, Côme Ledogar confidently moves to upper positions, he reached top-10, than he became 8th, 6th...

 

 

At that moment it revealed that 45 minutes of the race had already passed by, but who would dare to tell that Gaidai and Ledogar did not make the great lemonade of the huge lemon? They got the sixth place in the endurance race, Côme preserved his leadership in the series and demonstrated the best lap time, and Oleksandr reached the fourth position in the Championship!

C. Ledogar: "It is not the best result of the year, but I did everything I could, I was looking for all the possibilities for overrun. The car was set perfectly and let me do that.
Generally, it was a great weekend, I think. Oleksandr demonstrated the great driving technique during the first race, and he also did his best in the second one, but in the third race we were trying to get better positions from behind, and it was the best way of practicing. We still have to work on the rolling start.
We will watch the video and try to find a solution how to avoid these blows from behind as there were today."

O. Gaidai: "Oh, we lost too much because of this spin, really too much! And if I had started the engine immediately, we would have finished on the third position. I am glad only because of the fact that I have a better position according to the points, and now I am the fourth in the Championship."

 

 

Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2016, round 3, Misano, 11-12/06/16
Race 3

1. DRUDI Mattia (Dinamic Motorsport srl) 28 laps
2. IAQUINTA Simone (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) +10.309
3. FULGENZI Enrico (TAM Racing) +42.327
...6. GAIDAI Oleksander/LEDOGAR Côme (Tsunami RT) +1:00.700
...9. GRENIER Mikael/TORTA Matteo (Tsunami RT) +1:14.238
...15. WALTER BEN (Dinamic srl) +2 laps

The Porsche Carrera Cup France in Zandvoort lies ahead. Let us be honest: we prefer not to do cooking experiments that include citrus cultures. The prize champaign on the podium will be enough for us. We have rather modest requirements, it's true.