Race 2 of the first round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia in Misano celebrated an all-foreign podium. There is no doubt that Ten Voorde is one of the top in the world of 911 GT3 Cups and that Masters was expected at the top in an attempt to challenge him for the 2024 title, but it is equally true that some of the Italians were left a bit stuck in this inaugural event and that Lirim Zendeli, an expert formula driver but novice in GT, was one of the quickest to take advantage of it.
The 25-year-old German new entry to Ombra Racing, after the eighth place obtained last night in race 1, was the author of a truly solid performance in only the second race in the Italian single-brand series and on the Porsche. It wasn’t a given, but the fourth valid time obtained for the race 2 grid certainly helped.
It’s still a merit and after some need to adapt to a championship that also hosts gentleman drivers (with consequent traffic issues during free practice and qualifying) Zendeli seems to have taken the right path and the Bergamo team that welcomed him is also happy of how overall he managed this first round.
Third place in race 2 could represent an important “boost” for the German, who commented as follows on the podium with Masters and Ten Voorde: “It was a good race, we proved to be a complete team and I also had a good pace. I made some small mistakes and wasn’t able to stay attached to Ten Voorde but it was a good race. For me it’s already the first podium in the Carrera Cup, it was only the second race so I couldn’t be happier. The weekend could have started in a better way and maybe I could have got on the podium in race 1 too, but let’s start from here and try to improve one step at a time. until you reach the top”.
Well, Italians have actually been missing at the top. Apart from Francesco Braschi (protagonist of an excellent impact with the single-brand championship, on the podium in race 1 with Dinamic Motorsport, as well as currently ahead of Zendeli himself in the new Rookie classification) and Simone Iaquinta (to be seen again in the race for a few episodes but at least on the pace and in qualifying the only one who appeared capable of competing with the best), “senators” such as Alberto Cerqui, Gianmarco Quaresmini and Diego Bertonelli were missing from the competition, managing to compete for a top-5 at most in race 2.
The reasons are naturally different, even from driver to driver, but in Imola the desire for redemption will have to have the upper hand and above all it will be essential to pay even more attention to the details of the test sessions, because in qualifying they probably could have seized a few more opportunities.
In truth, Marvin Klein was also missing from the Misano weekend, he too was unable to get into the top battles despite his experience and palmares (two titles in the Carrera Cup France). The standard bearer of Target Competition is also a “senator” and in Imola he will have the opportunity to make up for it, also because one of the most interesting rookies immediately found himself in the team, the German Janne Stiak.
At 17, Stiak really impressed in the conduct of the two races, but in general all the “unders” of the Scholarship Program appeared to improve significantly as the mileage went on.
Among others, it is also worth highlighting the absolute debut in motor racing of Nicholas Pujatti, the youngest of the lot (he will turn 17 in December): after some mix-ups in race 1, the Pordenone rookie from Villorba Corse scored the first points of his career finishing 14th in race 2.
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