Marvin Klein is the master of race 1 of the third round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia on Saturday at the Mugello Circuit. Despite Larry Ten Voorde’s attempts to undermine him at the start of the race, the two-time French champion of Target Competition left no chance.
From pole position he dominated the race, even after a brief safety car (used to recover Pietro Armanni’s 911 GT3 Cup in the gravel of San Donato) which, 6 minutes from the end, had erased the advantage he had accumulated up to that point, that is, over 6 seconds on the Dutch champion in charge.
For Klein, who is back in the running for the 2024 title, it is the first win of the season in the Italian single-make series, which came in the scorching heat on his debut on the Tuscan circuit and which, after the super pole position achieved in the morning in 1’49″772, only lacked the fastest lap.
Needless to say, it was Ten Voorde who set it during the attempted forcing in the first 4 laps of the race (in fact the “best lap” came on lap 4 in 1’52″076). After the peak of the super challenge with Klein, who always responded within a thousandth of a second, the Dutchman from Fulgenzi Racing began to lose ground on the leader and at the finish line he had to settle for a second place that still keeps him on the podium (5 out of 5 this season) and above all allows him to further extend his lead over Keagan Masters.
Starting seventh on the starting grid, the Team Q8 Hi Perform driver was unable to attack the podium positions even after overtaking Diego Bertonelli (TDE) at the start. In the end, the South African managed to secure fifth place, favored by the “long” driver in the gravel of San Donato who, at the restart from the safety car, ruined the race of Aldo Festante (Dinamic Motorsport), forced to retire while occupying fifth place after starting from third on the grid.
It was precisely at the moment of Festante’s exit that the final podium of race 1 was decided. Third for a long time after having overtaken the driver from Campania in the first meters of the race, Flynt Schuring had to abdicate in favor of Lirim Zendeli, who attacked him on the inside of San Donato.
The German from Ombra Racing, who was the best in the new Rookie standings, thus earned his second podium of the season after the one obtained in race 2 at Misano, while the young Dutchman from Fulgenzi Racing was still left with a fourth place, achieved by riding at a top pace not far from his team leader and the confirmation, after qualifying, of being the best under of the Scholarship Programme on this hot Saturday at Mugello.
At the finish line, behind Klein, Ten Voorde, Zendeli, Schuring and Masters, with Festante having left the scene, the first Italian is Bertonelli, sixth and now ready to challenge poleman Ten Voorde from the front row of race 2, starting tomorrow (Sunday) at 12.20, with live TV on Dazn (with subscription or also free) and live streaming on www.carreracupitalia.it.
Bertonelli preceded a wild (and reborn) Gianmarco Quaresmini. The driver from Brescia only missed qualifying due to an incorrect tire pressure strategy, but in the race the 911 GT3 Cup of Tsunami RT seemed unstoppable, so much so that the already two-time champion climbed from 14th to seventh with a series of overtaking moves.
Another two-time champion, Simone Iaquinta, finished eighth in the 911 GT3 Cup driven by Prima Ghinzani, ahead of the youngsters Francesco Braschi (Dinamic Motorsport), with whom he duelled for a long time, and Oliver Gray, the British driver from Ombra Racing who finished in the top 10 for the first time in his debut season in the Carrera Cup Italia.
Janne Stiak (11th with Target Competition) and Alberto Cerqui (12th with BeDriver after a complicated start) follow, while 17th place overall is worth Alberto De Amicis’ return to success in the Michelin Cup.
For the Ebimotors standard-bearer and reigning champion of the category, this is the first win of the season, coming ahead of his long-time rival Alex De Giacomi, who was very dangerous in the 911 GT3 Cup of Tsunami RT, and Stefano Stefanelli on the podium.
The Tuscan driver and home driver with Team Malucelli thus celebrated his first personal podium finish in the Michelin Cup, obtained at the end of a thrilling duel with Francesco Maria Fenici.
With the fourth place obtained today, the Raptor Engineering driver remains in command of the general classification, but the advantage over De Amicis and De Giacomi (last year’s dominators) is thinning, while Paolo Gnemmi (Ebimotors) and Gianluca Giorgi (BeDriver) precede the seventh place of Cosimo Barberini, the Florentine from Prima Ghinzani making his absolute debut at the wheel of the 911 GT3 Cup.
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