The start of Porsche Carrera Cup Italy is in sight. We'd like to present the intricacies of the racing series' rules to our fans. It is astonishing how pleasant the viewing of the competitions may be when you understand what is happening there, and what dynamic Italian announcers are talking about!
The calendar of the season-2015 consists of 7 rounds. Six of them have the common schedule of two races, and the Spa Francorchamps round includes only one race, but 45-minute long and rather crowded: French series participants come here too.
All the races (except the Spa round) have the inexplicable but traditional duration of 28 minutes + 1 lap. There are two 30-minute series of free practices before each round.
The main difference between the Italian and French Porsche Cups is the qualification format. In Italy there is only one qualification before the first race. All the competitors are on the track within 25 minutes, and only 8 drivers who demonstrated the best time results return there after 5-minute brake. These drivers get the positions on the first four rows of the starting grid. This is the starting order for the first race of the weekend.
As for the second race, the drivers start it in the order on the finish of the first race, but with one exception: top-6 drivers start in reverse order. So the finish on the 6th position on Saturday automatically means the pole position on Sunday. Due to the idea the Sunday races are extremely spectacular and dynamic.
Besides the absolute classification (participated by all the PCCI drivers), the prizes are also competed by the gentlemen drivers – amateur drivers and young talents under the PCCI Scholarship program; the drivers that are 26 years old and less are eligible to apply.
We'll focus on the absolute classification this year: although both of our drivers are gentlemen, without any doubt, but not in the sense PCCI organizers mean. Oleksandr Gaidai competes with professionals for a long time, and Come Ledogar, the last year winner of Porsche Carrera France, is by no means an amateur.
The number of tires to use for each race is limited. Every driver has the right to start only with the tires used in the previous races in the free practices (except the first round). For the two races and the qualification a driver has not less then 8 and not more than 10 Michelin slicks at his disposal.
Let's consider the scoring system. The scheme is not easy. In the first race the scores are obtained by top-10 drivers according to the following scheme: 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. The scores for the second race are assigned only to the top-8 drivers: 15-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. And now math fans can count what is more advantageous: to win the first race and compete for the top position on the second day, starting from the 6th position, or get the 6th place on Saturday to get the pole position on the next day. But we leave these optimistic people with their long-term calculations and try to understand what are the rounds we will be talking about within the season.
| So, one of the oldest circuits of the world, Monza, opens the PCCI season on May 30-31. | |
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Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Designed: 1922 Last rebuild: 2007 Lap length: 5.793 km Direction: clockwise Turns: 11 Best lap time: 1:21.046 (Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, 2004) |
| Imola is expecting the racers in four weeks, on June 27-28. | |
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Autodromo Internazionale "Enzo e Dino Ferrari", Imola Opened: 1953 Last rebuild: 1994 Lap length: 4.909 km Direction: anti-clockwise Turns: 17 Best lap time: 1:20.411 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004) |
| As usual, on July 11-12 the PCCI participants are welcome in Mugello. | |
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Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello Designed: 1973 Opened: 1974 Lap length: 5.245 km Direction: clockwise Turns: 15 Best lap time: 1:35.075 (Kevin Giovesi, Team Ghinzani, 2013) |
| The unusual, but very astonishing round in Spa Francorchamps takes place on July 22-26. | |
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Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Designed: 1920 Last rebuild: 2007 Lap length: 7.004 km Direction: clockwise Turns: 20 Best lap time: 1:47.263 (Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2009) |
| Then there is some time to have a rest and build a strategy for the second half of the season. PCCI returns on the racing circuits only on September 12-13, in Vallelunga. | |
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Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi Designed: 1959 Last rebuild: 2004 Lap length: 4.085 km Direction: clockwise Turns: 10 Best lap time: 1:12.80 (Anthony Davidson, Honda RA 106-02 F1, 2006) |
| The 6th Italian round in Misano unfortunately coincides with Porsche Carrera Cup France in Navarre. But it's too early to think about it: we shall see which series to choose for the weekend of September 26-27. | |
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Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli Designed: 1969 Opened: 1972 Last rebuild: 2006 Lap length: 4.064 km Direction: clockwise Turns: 16 Best lap time: 1:33.918 (Casey Stoner, Ducati, 2007) |
| And one more round in Mugello on October 17-18 closes the season. | |
So, everything is ready for the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia first round. Don't miss the Monza race and follow the news here on our website and on our Facebook page!