There are obvious things that do not require proofs. For example, it is inconvenient to sleep on the ceiling: the blanket falls down. Or it is inconvenient when two racing series rounds coincide, and a team has to split its energy between Italy and France. Or, for example, it is inconvenient to participate in motor races if you have broken your leg recently. As for the last case, unfortunately, we had to find it out the hard way.
After the accident in Mugello both we and doctors thought that Tommaso Mosca would return to races just to the next season. However, our 18-year-old driver had a different opinion about this. The stubborn guy was learning to walk, keeping the diet and leaving a gym only for the intense physiotherapy. He wanted to start in Vallelunga! This guy does not give up not only on the track!
He made it. Two cars, those of Alex De Giacomi and of Tommaso Mosca, were ready for the qualification of the penultimate Porsche Carrera Cup round in Vallelunga!
Besides, our young driver managed to win the pole position and... (attention!) to set a new track record for Porsche Carrera Cup! Unfortunately, Tommaso's result was canceled just after the qualification because of non-compliance of the fireproof racing underwear. The bitter misunderstanding put our driver back to the last starting position.
Possibly, somebody would feel utterly discouraged, but not Mosca! The Tsunami RT driver starts to attack. First overrun, second, fifth, eighth... And Tommaso is in top-10 very soon!
Meanwhile, very spectacular scrums are happening in the beginning of the peloton: the pole position holder Gianmarco Quaresmini is defending from invasions of Simone Iaquinta, and Daniele Cazzaniga is snapping at Diego Bertonelli's heels. The top-6 drives tight, and at this very moment it turns into top-7: Tommaso Mosca joins the leaders' company with his cheerful: "Hi, weren't you expecting me?!"
The most significant competition in any race is for the first and the third position, because these mean victory and podium. However, the sixth place is very desirable for the drivers in the first race of the Italian Porsche Cup, because it will provide them with the pole position for the next race. Only Daniele Cazzaniga separated Tommaso Mosca from this pole. Until that moment Tommaso had already overrun one Cazzaniga – we mean, Riccardo – and did not see any problem to do the same with the second of them.
Mosca enters the turn, Daniele is very close... too close. Then the injured leg got it wrong: he just could not pull up as sharp as he needed. A touch, Cazzaniga is turned around... And Mosca gets 25 seconds of penalty for the accident. Tommaso is only 15th in the qualification instead of the tempting sixth position.
Meanwhile, Alex De Giacomi rises on the silver podium of the Michelin Cup classification and brings Tsunami RT yet another trophy.
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia. Vallelunga. Race 1
Overall
1. QUARESMINI Gianmarco (Dinamic Motorsport) 19 laps
2. IAQUINTA Simone (Ombra Racing) +0.614
3. SEGU Luca (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) + 10.460
...
12. DE GIACOMI Alex (Tsunami RT) +36.948
...
15. MOSCA Tommaso (Tsunami RT) +40.665
...
19. MERCURIO Diego (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) +1'34.285
Michelin Cup
1. CASSARA Marco (Ombra Racing)
2. DE GIACOMI Alex (Tsunami RT)
3. MARDINI Bashar (GDL Racing)
...
6. MERCURIO Diego (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport)
These are by no means all misfortunes that the racing Saturday prepared for us. At this time the Porsche Carrera Cup France round is taking place in Magny-Cours, where the defending champion of Italy, Alessio Rovera, competes for our team. The fortune kindly measured off nasty things also into the plot of the French race.
Here everything starts with the qualification too, and with radio communication problems between the driver and the team. Alessio just does not know that he is far out the track limits in the turn and cannot remedy the situation. His result is canceled: the Tsunami RT car is at the end of the starting grid also in France!
Fortunately, Rovera is not the kind to be put out of his stride by misfortunes like these. The 17th starting position becomes 10th until the end of the first lap. Next moment... The red flags appear on the track marking the too close contact of Christian Jaquillard and David Holliday. The track was abundantly poured with oil, and it took about half an hour to put it into shape.
Finally, the race restarts, and Rovera is spoiling for a fight again. He overruns the competitor, and there is a second and a half of a gap till the next one... 0.4 seconds to the end of the lap! Can you imagine how fast Alessio is in comparison to other drivers?
We were saying that the most interesting scrums were for the first place. However, it is not the case when Julien Andlauer is on the pole position, and his main competitor Alessio Rovera has started from the end of the peloton. In this case the most exciting fighting flares up for the second position with two challengers: Ayhancan Guven and Valentin Hasse-Clot. Let us not keep up the suspense for too long: the French driver was faster than his Turkish competitor this time. Andlauer is celebrating yet another victory, and Alessio Rovera gains points for the fifth place! Our driver milked for all it's worth from this hard Saturday!
Porsche Carrera Cup France. Magny-Cours. Race 1
1. ANDLAUER Julien (Martinet by Alméras) 17 laps
2. HASSE-CLOT Valentin (Sebastien Loeb Racing) +9.129
3. GUVEN Ayhancan (Attempto Racing) +9.664
...
5. ROVERA Alessio (Tsinami RT) +13.900
...
17. BLANK Howard (RMS) +1'38.863
Sunday morning brings two pieces of news – a good one and a bad one. A good one: Rovera has qualified second and starts from the first row. A bad one: the much-suffering leg of Tommaso Mosca has not healed to the extent that allows risking his health so much. Instead of the Sunday start, Tommaso goes to another physiotherapy course: the Italian series final is ahead, and Mosca has to be in good shape until then, not to start all the treatment from scratch from the next Monday. Only Alex De Giacomi remains to compete for the whole team in Italy.
After all, Porsche Cup is a remarkably spectacular series even if a team does not count upon the podium in the overall classification. Riccardo Cazzaniga and Simone Iaquinta created an outstanding show that gave us a real thrill, and we suppose that the frequency of the pulse of their own fans reached the same numbers as speedometers were showing. Our congratulations to Riccardo with the first victory in PCCI!
Alex De Giacomi won the bronze in the Michelin Cup classification! One more podium for Tsunami RT!
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia. Vallelunga. Race 2
Overall
1. CAZZANIGA Ricardo (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) 19 laps
2. IAQUINTA Simone (Ombra Racing) +0.194
3. BERTONELLI Diego (Dinamic Motorsport) + 12.022
...
10. DE GIACOMI Alex (Tsunami RT) +23.560
...
17. FULGENZI Enrico (GDL Racing) +4 laps
Michelin Cup
1. CASSARA Marco (Ombra Racing)
2. MARDINI Bashar (GDL Racing)
3. DE GIACOMI Alex (Tsunami RT)
...
6. SATTA Alessandro (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport)
Alessio Rovera's outing (we are talking about France again, if you are not confused yet) had to become a concluding cord of Sunday. However, he did not get a chance to impose the struggle to Julien Andlauer this time: the main French competitor was faster that day. Alessio passed the entire race impeccably and raised on the second step of the prizing podium. Weekend concluded rather decently. If it had started and continued like that...
Porsche Carrera Cup France. Magny-Cours. Race 2
1. ANDLAUER Julien (Martinet by Alméras) 18 laps
2. ROVERA Alessio (Tsunami RT) +12.096
3. GUVEN Ayhancan (Attempto Racing) +12.668
...
15. BLANK Howard (RMS) +1 lap
There are three more racing weekends: two in the French series and the Italian final round. We have the best team and the best drivers (with five healthy legs for three persons, but we are working on it). That is what we will demonstrate not only to our fans with all our pleasure, but also to our competitors. That will be the real drive! The season has not come to its end yet!
By: Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Antonin Vincent, Akis Temperidis