Race 1 of the second round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia yesterday afternoon in Imola respected the predictions and the starting grid that emerged from the “hiccup” qualifying experienced in the morning. And as in race 2 at Misano, three foreign drivers of international level prevailed, with Larry Ten Voorde extending his lead in the standings by winning and flying to the Nurburgring for the 24 Hours, from which he returned this morning to take part in race 2, where at 12.00 (live Dazn e www.carreracupitalia.it) will position itself in pole position again.
“I am happy and I thank the team – said the reigning Fulgenzi Racing champion –, we were able to improve the car after qualifying and I was able to have a great race. It wasn’t easy with the safety cars but, just like on the first start from a standing start, I always managed to restart very well despite the pressure and was able to push, I’m really very happy. As you know I’m very busy this weekend!”
With the private flight waiting for him “quickly” in Bologna to take him to Germany (by the way: Enrico Fulgenzi was his driver until he got to the plane) there wasn’t even time to ask for a comment on the situation current championship, where the lead over Keagan Masters has widened, now 14 points away and called for a new response in race 2 after succeeding in Misano.
It won’t be easy, but the South African official driver of Team Q8 Hi Perform and followed by Ombra Racing doesn’t give up: “Second place was the best we could do in race 1. We suffered from the heat, to be honest I think the others suffered too. It was easy to make mistakes, Larry ran well for the whole race and I can’t help but be happy of this P2. In race 2 we need to win, but second place is positive and the team has done an excellent job. Now we have to try, never say never Larry will always be Larry in race 2, he will be fast and I will have to work a lot to catch him. In the championship we are there, 2 wins to 1, he had the extra points of pole position and fastest laps, we have to see what happens today, the season is long and therefore we can still catch him”.
Having redeemed the Misano round, Marvin Klein also returned to the podium yesterday. The two-time Carrera Cup France champion took a solid third place exactly as he had done in the Supercup two weeks ago and knows that his Italian single-make campaign began just yesterday, when he began to “adjust” his ranking.
“It didn’t go well at Misano at all – said the Target Competition standard bearer after race 1 in Imola –, so now we need to take heavy points for the championship every weekend. The team and I have every intention of fighting at the top, race 1 here ends on the podium so I’m very happy, our season starts now and we will push from here to the end. In race 2, again, we won’t start on pole, I’ll have to take the opportunity if I get one, we’ll see, but I’ll certainly push and I think we can also have a good race pace, we need a full weekend at the top.”
On the Italian front, however, even with Bertonelli and Quaresmini growing and signs of recovery from Cerqui and a very unfortunate (in qualifying) Iaquinta, the certainty remains the surprise of Francesco Braschi. The young Catholic driver of Dinamic Motorsport remains with his feet on the ground, but the comeback fourth place achieved yesterday is precious and gives morale, in the overall classification (where he consolidates third place), in the Rookie classification (where he again scored more points of everyone) and also in the internal balance of the Scholarship Programme, where some very young rivals are developing well, starting with a fast Janne Stiak, who also stood out in Imola.
“After a good start – declared Braschi at the end of game 1 – I found myself in a good situation, I waited for the right moment and I jumped to fourth already on the second lap. Given the qualifications that didn’t go as I wanted, especially in race 2 I started from far behind, this result is a good achievement and in the next stage I hope to improve in practice. The pace was there in the race, after two weekends in the Supercup which didn’t go very well, because I felt the car slipping on the rear, I finally found the confidence here in Imola and I’m happy about that, then we’ll work on qualifying.”
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