It is not the first time for us to participate in two Porsche Cup rounds within one weekend. However, two racing series have not been competing so brightly for a while, trying to excel each other in number of accidents, fly-offs and other misfortunes...
Everything started in September (on Saturday) in Barcelona. Of course, it started from a logjam after which a safety car appeared on the track. The plot of the remaining race was presented by unsuccessful attempts of Florian Latorre (pole position holder) to regain his positions and reach at least the third step of the podium. Due to Ayhancan Guven's efforts, the answer was a lemon, and Julien Andlauer predictably became the winner.
Our driver Thomas Nicolle had the stable race, no logjam, no gravel, he finished on the 13th position among the Porsche Carrera Cup France participants.
Porsche Carrera Cup France 2017, round 5, Barcelona
Race 1 overall
1. ANDLAUER Julien (Martinet By Alméras) 15 laps
2. DE NARDA Joffrey (Sébastien Loeb Racing) +14.239
3. GUVEN Ayhancan (Attempto Racing) +18.071
...
13. NICOLLE Thomas (Tsunami RT) +44.674
...
17...
It might have been the only stable moment in the whole weekend. Because, starting from October and Sunday, all the events stopped to be at all predictable.
Both PCCI races in Mugello were rescheduled for Sunday due to the festival. In the morning Alessio Rovera took stand in the first row of the starting grid, a little bit behind Gianmarco Quaresmini.
The race has started, and the master of overruns Rovera appears to be in front of everybody with an imperceptible move! Enrico Fulgenzi breaks forward from the fifth to the third position. One lap, another... It would be good for Rovera to keep more distance with the competitor, but Quaresmini has no intention to stay behind and keeps attacking.
Francesca Linossi is intensely attacking Ivan Jacoma. Lino Curti who has lost the position on the start has stuck to Livio Selva.
Then the three overruns follow each other: Quaresmini overruns Rovera, Lino overruns Selva (having passed the torch to his brother Carlo who immediately starts to tail Selva without giving him any break), and Francesca Linossi makes a beautiful and spectacular overrun of Jacoma.
And here we are... of course, a safety car appears on the track: Rovera has to overrun! The rain starts, it becomes slippery, in brief, all conditions are just for us!
However, Alessio preserves his position and finishes on the second step of the prizing podium. It is very important, because his main rival Riccardo Pera has not reached the podium that means the reduction of a gap in qualification points.
Unfortunately, the mistake in the well-known Arrabbiata-2 led Lino Curti to the gravel instead of the Michelin Cup classification podium. But Carlo could finish in top-10.
Alessio Rovera (#12): "I was controlling the race but I did a mistake on the Biondetti corner and I lost the lead of the race. After that, I tried to take him again but whenever I pushed, I was losing the rear of the car. It's OK, at least we gained some points for the championship".
Carlo Curti (#18): "I am very happy today because I did a good start and gained positions in the first lap. I overtook Köller and then I stayed behind Lino first and Selva later. Its a pity the safety car entered the track and we couldn't do something more".
Lino Curti (#81): "I did a bad start and then I regained my position. It's a pity because I made a mistake on the Arrabbiata 2 corner while I was 3rd in class and 9th overall. It's a pity..."
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2017, round 6, Mugello
Race 1
1. QUARESMINI Gianmarco (Dinamic Motorsport) 15 laps
2. ROVERA Alessio (Tsunami RT) +1.067
3. FULGENZI Enrico (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) +6.796
...
10. CURTI Carlo (Tsunami RT) +15.857
...
15. WALTER BEN (Bonaldi Motorsport) +1 lap
Michelin Cup
1. DE GIACOMI Alex (Dinamic Motorsport)
2. JACOMA Ivan (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport)
3. SELVA Livio (Ebimotors)
...
8. WALTER BEN (Bonaldi Motorsport)
While the team is pleasing the soul and stomach with delicacies, cheese and olives in Mugello Porsche Hospitality, we will come over to Barcelona where 33 cars of Porsche Cup and Benelux Cup participants have already lined up on the start. Not all of them will reach the finish, not at all... The engine of the safety car is already roaring impatiently ready to enter the track just after the tractor towing the cars out of the track.
We could write off the spectacular fly-offs as a result of the rain, but let us be fair: the rain started only at the end of the race, so the main part of the show was performed for love of the game exclusively. The Julien Andlauer's fly-off with the turn was best remembered. He not only sprawled on the track so that he could not be passed by, but he was also trying to make an escape turn in backward motion blocking the way of the cars racing on the track! They were very scared. We were very excited.
The long-awaited bronze podium in Division B was already in the face of Thomas Nicolle after the fly-offs of Nicolas Misslin and Egidio Perfetti. You have forgotten about the rain, haven't you? But it has not forget about us. Thomas finishes in the gravel on the wet track, deeply sorrow. Not everybody can drive on slicks in the rain as Oleksandr Gaidai does...
Porsche Carrera Cup France 2017, round 5, Barcelona
Race 2 overall
1. HASSE-CLOT Valentin (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 14 laps
2. BELTOISE Vincent (Sainteloc Racing) +5.639
3. GUVEN Ayhancan (Attempto Racing) +6.280
...
14. NICOLLE Thomas (Tsunami RT) +1 lap
Here we are, the second race in Mugello. Here the common sense of Riccardo Pera, having discovered that, unexpectedly, only one and a half round has left – 3х28 minutes – till the end of the season, laid down the fasces of its authority and resigned itself from office. So, instead of Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde unexpectedly appeared on the start pushing the competitors out of the track without limitations and neglecting the ethics of sport. As soon as Alessio Rovera appeared behind him, Pera lost all the logic of his actions focusing only on not letting Rovera to take the lead. He crossed the trajectories multiple times, tried to push Alessio off the track politely giving way to others, though.
It is difficult to say what would have happened if there had not been an accident.
Chicco Reggiani had to bear this time who was unluckily hit by Alex De Giacomi from one side and insidiously attacked with the wall from the other. A multiple-turn finish does not happen in PCCI every day as well as a complete stop of the race.
When the participants were lined up on the starting grid again, Riccardo Pera drove to the boxes to have the radiator fixed (he had smashed it against somebody!).
The restart happens 8.5 minutes till the end of the race. Alessio Rovera is already without a care in the world – he avoids a serious accident without turning an eyelash when Francesca Linossi was turned cross the track just in front of him at high speed. As in the previous round, Simone Pellegrinelli was preceding Alessio. The former is slower but stubborn and not giving way to anybody.
Nobody knew that the story of the race would end not on the finish but only late in the evening. It would end with the decision of the referees to penalize six drivers for the delay in staying on the screw blocks. Three Tsunami RT drivers also got 25 seconds as a load. In the result of it Rovera gains the points only for the seventh place, the brilliant 7th result of Carlo Curti turns into the 9th, and only Lino Curti had such a gap with the competitor behind him that he preserved his position in top-10 even with the penalization.
Alessio Rovera: "More than a race this has been a torture. It was not possible to keep my pace because there was always Pera ahead who was trying to impede me or to take me out. So I could do nothing about, overtake him or whatever, only to stay behind. After the restart, I drove very carefully in order to bring back some points".
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2017, round 6, Mugello
Race 1
1. PELLEGRINELLI Simone (Bonaldi Motorsport) 13 laps
2. QUARESMINI Gianmarco (Dinamic Motorsport) +12.096
3. FULGENZI Enrico (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) +14.270
...
7. ROVERA Alessio (Tsunami RT) +39.136
...
9. CURTI Carlo (Tsunami RT) +56.401
10. CURTI Lino (Tsunami RT) +1'41.567
...
15. WALTER BEN (Bonaldi Motorsport) +2'05.367
Michelin Cup
1. JACOMA Ivan (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport)
2. KOLLER Hans-Peter (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport)
3. PICCIOLI Gianluigi (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport)
4. CURTI Lino (Tsunami RT)
...
6. WALTER BEN (Bonaldi Motorsport)
So, all the intrigue of the Italian Championship remains for the last round. Before that, we will meet on the Paul Ricard autodrome and the final of the French series. Don't miss these!
By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis and Alexis Goure