The season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia opened under the sign of Diego Bertonelli, absolute ruler at Imola after having won race 1 on the first Saturday of the year from pole position and complete with fastest lap. On the podium, the 2019 vice-champion Tuscan driver preceded the reigning champion Alberto Cerqui and Leonardo Caglioni, the best among the under of the Scholarship Program who achieved his first success last year on the Santerno track.
Bertonelli was the author of a perfect start and in the fifth lap he managed very well the first re-start from the safety car which entered the track already on lap 2 for the retirements of Negra, Fenici and then also of Knutzov. BeDriver, in the meantime, was confirmed in second by Cerqui, while Matteo Malucelli stopped at the start from the third square of the grid and found himself in the center of the group.
All the riders who started from behind did well, with Keagan Masters ready to take third place and undermine Cerqui. In fact, at the restart of the fifth lap, the 22-year-old South African rookie of AB Racing, surprised by free practice and qualifying, attacked the Ghinzani Arco Motorsport standard bearer, passing him at the entrance of Villeneuve but then finishing wide at the exit and finding himself only eighth, thus favoring Caglioni , who climbed third from fourth with Ombra Racing.
From then on he was Bertonelli’s mologist, who responded blow by blow to Cerqui’s attempts to recover. In the meantime, a brilliant Giammarco Levorato (Tsunami RT) settled behind Caglioni, while from fifth place Giorgio Amati (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) struggled to keep up with Andrea Fontana (Bonaldi Motorsport) and Enrico Fulgenzi (EF Racing), who in turn still had to contend with an always insidious Masters, responding to a decisive attack on the Mineral Waters.
A few minutes from the end, an error by Piero Randazzo (Ombra Racing), who ended up in gravel at the Tamburello, forced the race direction to use the Porsche Taycan present as safety car for the second time, with consequent regrouping of the group and restart at the very last tour.
Bertonelli, who had been deprived of all the accumulated advantage, did not do anything wrong even in that decisive juncture and crossed the finish line in front of Cerqui, Caglioni, Levorato, Amati and Fulgenzi, sixth and who in the inverted grid of race 2 tomorrow ( Sunday) will then start from pole position.
Merit (or demerit) also of Fontana, who perhaps daring too much in an attempt to attack Amati on the last lap ends up in gravel, returning only 13th. Behind Fulgenzi, Masters therefore closes seventh at his debut, Lodovico Laurini (Dinamic Motorsport) is solid eighth without flaws, Gianmarco Quaresmini (Ombra Racing) is ninth after a good comeback from 20th, and Aldo Festante completes the top-10 at his first appearance with Raptor Engineering.
Ale Giardelli enters the points area, author of a not perfect starting point at his first presence with Ebimotors, Malucelli, who climbed 12th after the difficult start, the aforementioned Fontana, Benny Strignano 14th with Villorba Corse and Stefano Monaco (Dinamic Motorsport.
It ends with a convincing 19th place, clawed in the final thanks to a couple of good overtakes, Jorge Lorenzo’s debut in the Carrera Cup Italia. The official driver of Team Q8 HI Perform also managed the safety car and restart phases well and will probably improve even in the standing start after losing a few positions at the start.
The 18th place overall earned Alberto De Amicis, former poleman of the category, the victory in the Michelin Cup. The driver Ebimotors celebrated on the podium with Alex De Giacomi, second with Tsunami RT after Randazzo’s exit in the final, Luca Pastorelli, finished third with Krypton Motorsport. Excellent comeback of the reigning champion Marco Cassarà, fourth in class after starting 11th and even 31st overall.
First center in the Silver Cup for Paolo Venerosi (Ebimotors), ready to take advantage of the final duel between Max Donzelli (Raptor Engineering), super to take the lead at the start, and Davide Scannicchio (ZRS Motorsport), who then managed to finish second. For Donzelli, on the other hand, only fifth place arrives, even surpassed by Matteo Rovida, third on the podium to complete a day to be framed for BeDriver.
Tomorrow (Sunday) race 2 completes the first seasonal weekend of the Italian flagship store starting from 12.30 on live TV on Cielo (26 digital terrestrial) and Sky Sport Arena (Sky 204) and in live streaming on www.carreracupitalia.it. As mentioned Fulgenzi on pole, followed by Amati, Levorato, Caglioni, Cerqui and Bertonelli.
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