The penultimate round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia in Vallelunga ends under the sign of Janne Stiak. A very nervous weekend that ultimately rewards one of the youngest protagonists and one of the “calmest” personalities seen on and off the track.
And the little German from Target Competition won in race 2 on the Roman circuit ahead of a reborn Diego Bertonelli, second and on his first podium of the season with TDE, Lirim Zendeli, third again at Vallelunga with Ombra Racing and… Larry Ten Voorde, who started right in front of him from pole position.
Unlike yesterday, the Dutchman from Fulgenzi Racing did not commit a jump start violation, getting off to a great start and taking the lead. Once again, however, Marvin Klein (overtaking Stiak) reappeared behind him and, as in race 1 in that case at the start, Ten Voorde closed him out by touching him when the Frenchman from Target Competition attacked him at the Trincea, causing Klein to fall to eighth position.
A maneuver that shortly after cost the race leader a 5-second penalty which, like yesterday’s one for the jump start, affected his race, which was then aimed at building as much of a margin as possible over Stiak, Bertonelli, Zendeli, his teammate Schuring and later Klein (who in the meantime had climbed up to sixth thanks to two decisive overtakings on Francesco Braschi and Keagan Masters.
The operation was working (he set the fastest lap, the fourth in 1’34″501) to ensure at least third place, but fate awaited Ten Voorde when on lap 16 a fortuitous contact between Alberto Cerqui and Nicholas Pujatti in the middle of the group forced the Villorba Corse rookie to the side of the track and had to remove the car.
On lap 16 the safety car was called out, bringing the group back together and at the restart of the final lap Ten Voorde had no further chance of completing a significant recovery, finishing only tenth overall as soon as the penalty to be served was applied to the standings.
Stiak, for his part, after the contact between the reigning champion and Klein remained in the Dutchman’s slipstream, maintaining second place ahead of Bertonelli, who tried to maintain the pace to fight for the victory, and Zendeli, who then, as written, will finish on the podium with the German rookie on the first step.
The Target team’s standard-bearer is thus also the second winner representing the Scholarship Programme of the weekend, which had already launched Flynt Schuring into the limelight among the young drivers, who was a surprise winner yesterday in the chaos of race 1 with the 911 GT3 Cup of Fulgenzi Racing, with which he instead finished in fourth place in race 2.
In the top-5 Klein can find a little smile, instead. The two-time French champion despite the second foul suffered recovers precious points from Ten Voorde thanks to the final top-5, but his loot could have really been much more valuable this weekend. Even against Masters, the third driver with him and Ten Voorde in contention for the title.
Having crossed the finish line in sixth place right behind Klein, the official South African of Team Q8 Hi Perform should have overtaken Ten Voorde in the standings by just one point, while at the last race in Monza, behind the two, the French driver will show up with 12 points to recover. Everything wide open…
The top 10 of race 2 is therefore completed by Braschi, seventh with Dinamic Motorsport after yesterday’s penalty, Oliver Gray, who climbs up to eighth position with Ombra Racing, and an excellent Simone Iaquinta, ninth in notable progression with Prima Ghinzani after the bad luck of race 1, when he was good at avoiding the worst with Klein after the chaos triggered by Ten Voorde at the start (and then out of the points while today he is tenth).
The fight remains wide open also in the Michelin Cup, where this time Francesco Fenici does not let himself be surprised by the pole position and dominates from the start to the finish line with the 911 GT3 Cup by Raptor Engineering. A show of strength at home for the current leader, who extends his lead by a few points over Alberto De Amicis, third with Ebimotors today behind a lively Alex De Giacomi, back on the podium in second place with Tsunami RT.
Winner yesterday, Paolo Gnemmi instead has to settle for fifth place behind Romanian Horia-Traian Chirigut (Villorba Corse). The second Ebimotors driver, while still in the running for the title, loses some ground in the standings compared to Fenici and De Amicis after a good performance conducted almost entirely in second position before finding himself only in the top-5 after a difficult last lap after the restart from the safety car.
On 6-8 October, the last round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia will decide all the titles in Monza, including the Team and Rookie titles, where Zendeli once again gains on Braschi, still to be assigned.
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