By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis
The end of a racing season is an event that always brings sadness. It means that the final round should be spent to leave a pleasant aftertaste and to be remembered with pleasure. These are the goals and the tasks of Tsunami RT in Mugello – we should not invent anything, everything is simple!
The first Saturday race on the Tuscany circuit became not just successful, it was so stunningly exciting that we were not even counting the qualification points, we were simply enjoying the show.
Having started from the fifth position, Mikael Grenier burst ahead into the top-3 immediately. I think that the two other competitors do not need any presentation, do they? That's right, one car is green with the inscription "Drudi" on it, the second is with Cheburashka and the Ukrainian flag on the roof (with the French driver). So, Mik took the second position very fast and started attacking Mattia Drudi!
Of course, various events were happening behind these three competitors: for example, Daniele Di Amato flew off the track as usual, and Stefano Zanini was turned as usual; Simone Iaquinta made a mistake and Alessio Rovera broke forward onto the forth position, but it was not so important. Because Mik overran Mattia, and the car of Tsunami RT Centro Porsche Padova became the leader of the peloton.
The rest of the competitors were already 12 seconds behind, nobody would even try to nip into the competition for the podium, but only if this fight occurred without any mistakes! At that time Mattia Drudi was intensely attacked by Côme Ledogar.
While Côme was overrunning Drudi, Edoardo Liberati and Gianmarco Cuarsemini were performing amazingly beautiful simultaneous waltz. If they had been on a drift competition, they would already have been greeted as unquestionable winners. Meanwhile the race was going on, two Tsunami RT cars were ahead, and both drivers did not have an intention to lazily repose on their laurels at all. Mikael Grenier was rushing on the wet track, followed by Côme Ledogar. Honestly, we were very thrilled: it would be better for us if they were driving "piggy-back", unhurriedly approaching their prizes. It would be easier for everybody. But the race should be the festivity for the viewers, as well as for the drivers. And our guys granted us the real show!.. Two Porsches of our team were first to shoot under the checkered flag at crazy speed!
The first victory was by Mikael Grenier! It was the winning double of Tsunami RT! The first double of our foreign drivers in PCCI! And the Champion's title of Côme Ledogar! It has been the first time in the history of Porsche Carrera Cup Italia when the series was won not by an Italian driver, and we are so happy that it was our driver!
M.Grenier: «It was my first standing start on the wet track but it was quite good, I reached P2 on the first lap, then I had a chance to overtake Drudi and after that I just thought about managing the gap. When you led in the rainy conditions it's not easy: you don't have any car in front to see which line is the fastest and you have to try yourself.
I knew from the start that we had a good chance to win but when I became the leader I thought only about keeping on the track. I am so happy about this race!»
C.Ledogar: «I am really happy especially because we've done it with Tsunami. In the end everything is Ok but it was very hard for everyone, you know I didn't have a failure in two years and this is something great, very important! I would like to thank all the Tsunami team and give my congratulations to Mik who did a fantastic job today. He made no mistakes and I am really proud to be part of his success also».
Meanwhile, the season continues, and Oleksandr Gaidai toed the starting line. Our driver who demonstrated wonderful results in the first part of the season had to significantly reduce his participation in the competitions. In the autumn Oleksandr intentionally took the role of the "second" driver in the duet with Mikael Grenier, having given the maximum amount of driving time to Côme Ledogar (previously they shared the car) and working for Mikael's success. But that was Oleksandr's race!
Gaidai is the master of good starts, and he demonstrated it this time too, having overrun two competitors at a time. Then the driver from Odessa faced his old competitor Alex De Giacomi, and both the fans and the drivers enjoyed the duel. Oleksandr's persistent attempts to overrun the Italian driver faced equally persistent resistance.
And Côme Ledogar, in his capacity of the new champion already, was trying, of course, to attack Mattia Drudi (there was also Daniele Di Amato between them, but he left the track by himself having beaded the wheel). Mattia won this time, and Côme got the silver.
C.Ledogar: «It's quite a good thing not only for me – it is a good challenge both for me and Alex. We have a strong team, I'm really proud of it. Alex did a lot of sacrifice this year and at the end... well, you are never perfect as you always have something to improve – but we are on the top now! Now we still have much work for tomorrow race»
O.Gaidai: «This race was very exciting and very complicated for me: I attacked Alex de Giacomi and enjoyed the race. At some moment he nearly pushed me to the fence but after the race he came to me to say he was sorry – he just couldn't see me because of the sun.
If to speak about the whole season, I decided to sacrifice much of my racing time and opportunities for the sake of our young drivers and the team. And today I was very happy to see that it has brought such a result!»
There was the competition for two more titles in the Sunday long race – the Team Cup and Michelin Cup (for gentlemen drivers).
At the very beginning of the race Mikael Grenier suddenly remained without his teammate: Côme Ledogar pinned the radiator and drove to the boxes anticipatorily. But, honestly, this guy did his best for Tsunami RT this year. So, let him watch the last race from the pit wall.
The most interesting competition was taking place on the track between Alex De Giacomi and Marco Cassara: both needed to win in the Michelin Cup classification to win the title. That's why the competition for the 8th position in the absolute classification between these two drivers was very intense, it was a real pleasure to watch!
After the shift of drivers Daniele Di Amato was the first to leave the pit lane followed by Mattia Drudi. The Tsunami RT mechanics made a perfect work: Oleksandr Gaidai who shifted Mikael Grenier entered the circuit on the fourth position, but, unfortunately, just in front of Alessio Rovera who was already in the process of the race, at full speed. That's why the Italian overran our driver rather easily. And then...
Then the whole race turned into attempts of the drivers to enjoy the process as much as possible because the result was obvious. For everybody... except de Giacomi and Cassara, who, having left the pit-stop, continued to compete as if they had not had any break at all. Alex managed to overrun the competitor and win the laureate wreath of the winner. Mattia Drudi finished on the second place, and the team title was received by Dinamic Motorsport. And Oleksandr Gaidai finished the race with the fourth result.
O.Gaidai: «At the moment when I was driving out from the pit lane Rovera overtook me – he was already on the track and with a high pace. I tried to catc him but lack of racing practice didn't let me do that: I improved with every lap but too slowly to reach the drivers who practice a lot. The 4th place, I think, is not a bad result, it's our place today, without any mistakes».
O.Gaidai: «If to speak about the whole season, there were many exciting races and, I think, the strongest drivers in comparison with the previous 5-6 years. We all race because we enjoy it and many races were really well done. I'm very happy for Côme's title and I'm glad that we have Mik who also can win. It's not easy to fight on the "foreign" territory but we can do that!»
We can do it, and we will do it! Show must go on, and what is the motor sport as not the one big and expensive show running on high-grade petrol?!
We will talk globally about the plans of the team later. By the way, the season still has not come to its end in Porsche Carrera Cup France! So, stay tuned!