Porsche Carrera Cup Italia published the series presentation for the year 2017.

The main news is that the organizers decided not to continue with the experiment of the previous year with the change of format and three races of various duration in one weekend. PCCI returns to the traditional weekend format – two 28-minute races plus 1 lap.

From one hand, it is disappointing, because the previous season was extremely exciting due to the changed rules. 45-minute race required new skills from the drivers, and the timed pit stops – maximum attention and the synergy of all the team members. Not everyone managed to do so. It was an extremely interesting experiment that gave us unique experience.

The only disadvantage of Porshe Carrera Cup Italia-2016 format was a weekend extended for a half of the week:

"Three-day races are difficult as for time spent. Our endurance race usually starts after 4 p.m. So, it means an absolutely absurd Sunday. You leave a hotel at 12 p.m., than you come to the circuit and just sit there for 3–4 hours, and you have nothing to do.

And in the evening, even if the airport is not far from your house, you arrive at 1 a.m., wake up in the morning to go to work and have troubles with thinking for the whole day. And often the airport with the direct flights is 300–400 km away, and you have to depart on Monday. So, you lose a half of a Thursday and a half of a Monday", according to Irina Kolomeitseva.

Now the racing weekend will be cut to two days – free practices for the Division A drivers will take place on Saturday. After that – two qualifications (one for everybody, another – for a top-8) and two races. Qualification will define the starting order for the first race, and the second one will have the reverse start for 6 best drivers according to the results of the first race.

A separate classification for female drivers will be an innovation of the season-2017. We hope that there will be enough candidates to choose the best female driver: we have not seen female drivers for a long time! We have three months till the beginning of the season – enough to gather all the elite of the Italian carting, formula and touring car circuit races in the series.

The Porsche Monocup Italy calendar 2017 includes 7 stages in Imola, Misano, Vallelunga, Mugello and Monza. So, we are waiting for the end of the midseason.

By the way, it is already spring in Italy!