By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis
As we know, Imola is the circuit with the anti-clockwise direction. Somebody explains it with the Coriolis effect on the border of Italy and San-Marino, but we will not delve into the causes of this remarkable thing, we will just accept it as one of the framework laws of nature.
However, it would have been great to change some of the natural laws on the fifth Porsche Carrera Cup France rounds – the direction of time, for example. If we had been started from Sunday evening proceeding towards Saturday morning, Tsunami RT Centro Porsche Padova team performance would have increased without any doubt, as we demonstrated the best results on the first free practice for some reason. Alex Zhuannem and Oleksandr Gaidai had finished with the 4th and the 5th results correspondingly, and then the first misfortunes began – to begin with, there was a problem with the brakes of the Gaidai's car.
The laws of nature completely went out of control to the moment of qualification: two our drivers did not manage not only to demonstrate the good result but also to explain what was happening, however hard they were trying.
O. Gaidai: "I cannot understand what's the matter. You drive, you try hard, you put the car through the wringer, and the time doesn't come. The first free practice had been normal, but then something went wrong. I want to see the telemetry to understand what was the problem – if it is about me or about the car. It is very strange."
A.Jouannem: "I will tell the same as Oleksandr – it is very strange. I do the same as during the free practices but cannot achieve the result. Moreover, whatever I do, I demonstrate the same time within the accuracy of a tenth of a second! We have hardly lost our driving skills within the last three hours..."
On Sunday morning the weather became the central figure of the PCCF race. The rain ended, the sun emerged and the track was not wet but dampy. It was almost dry on the trajectory, damp a little bit beyond it, but the kerbs and the lawn were wet and slippery... That's how it happened...
However, it was not like that. Firstly, there was the start when 11 of 12 competitors from various teams drove forward, and only the car of Oleksandr Gaidai remained on its place. The gearbox functioned not as it had to, and the car remained in neutral, and even Porsches do not move forward like this, regrettably. Sasha had to overrun everybody...
Gaidai performed the first overrun even before the first appearance of the safety car on the track. The latter was called due to the escape of Thomas Loran into the wall. If you think that it was the first incident on the track, you are absolutely wrong; Florian Latorre who had flown off the track earlier had not meet the wall. Somebody explains this with Pauli principle, but we promised not to go into detail.
The safety car hardly left the track (by the way, Democritus explained that as the transformation of atoms into scents and fragrances... It is elegant, isn't it?) when the most serious incident of the day took place...
A. Jouannem: "I made a mistake and two of the wheels appeared to be on the green cover. Nevertheless, I kept the car on the track, but I lost traction when I had already returned on the track. Unfortunately, Roar Lindland was in the wrong place in wrong time, and we had a collision. Both me and him could do nothing. I am very sorry..."
Fortunately, Alex the Jr. has to feel sorry only for broken cars and wasted race: both drivers are fine. However, our mechanics would not manage to repair the Zhuannem's car till the second race of the weekend.
Meanwhile, the race continued, and even the safety car left the track for the second time. Oleksandr Gaidai made a mistake in the same turn, but he lost only one position (he was the eighth).
6 minutes before the end of the race Oleksandr Gaidai unintentionally touched his competitor Kristof Lapierre in the attempt to overrun him, both flew off the track... By the way, somebody would explain that with the second law of Newton, but let us not talk about that. In general, Oleksandr spent the rest of the race in pursuit of Lapierre.
Gaidai obtained 30 seconds of penalization for the collision with Lapierre instead of the bronze cup in the Division B.
O. Gaidai: "Imola is my favorite track. Neutral on the start and a mistake that cost me a position resulted in loss of control over my emotions to some extent. I wanted to overrun everybody at once. I had a good speed, but emotions intervened. I had to drive the second race without any expectations and just do what I could."
Oleksandr Gaidai appeared on the start of the second race already as the only driver of Tsunami RT Centro Porsche Padova (somebody would explain that with the principle of Occam's razor, but, believe us, it was not the case). The start was very good this time: only several sets of turns, and Oleksandr was already the fifth.
In brief, the first Sunday race differed from the second one as a students' party with alcohol differs from the way it is described to parents: "We were studying to prepare for the test till morning." The showcase race 2 (as for the driving technique) was much less spectacular as for mistakes, accidents and other misfortunes. Anyway, the safety car also needs some rest!
On the finish Oleksandr Gaidai confessed that he had made one mistake with a turn (it wasn't shown in the live) and went up on the winners podium to get his silver cup of the Division B.
O. Gaidai: "I am satisfied with my driving in general, but not with the result and my place. I made a mistake that resulted in a U-turn. The race was difficult due to many reasons, and one of them is me. I was trying hard, I gave it my all, I just tried to... outstrip the target in some turns. But the overall race was good, and, unlike many competitors, I kept it during the whole race."
On the whole, Imola was peculiar. A perfect start, a lot of misfortunes and an accurate full stop, the cup in the final. So different puzzle pieces that nevertheless gather together and show the whole picture. Probably, we would be glad to pull some piece out, but it can ruin the whole weekend that, no matter which way you look at it, has already become a part of Porsche Carrera Cup France history. Somebody would explain it with the minimality of the dynamic systems... But are you sure you want to talk about it?...