After having badly wasted the opportunity on Friday, throwing the pole position of Race 1 to the wind with a contact at the Tamburello, Thomas Neubauer made up for it today in Imola, because he is the world champion of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli.
Just like two days ago, the French driver shared the front row with Edoardo Donno, but this time he was not surprised by the 17-year-old Italian and immediately took the lead. Among other things, the race was immediately neutralized, because even before arriving at the Tamburello a carom was triggered that involved Max Mugelli, Dylan Medler, Yudai Uchida, Nicolò Rosi and Ange Barde, all forced to retire.
At the restart, Neubauer was not surprised, even if Donno gave the feeling that he had no intention of giving up. The young Italian’s dreams of glory, however, went up in smoke like the left front of his 488 at about halfway through the race, forcing him to park at the exit of the Curva Gresini due to suspension failure.
At that point it became easier for the leader, who had a safety margin on the new direct rival, John Wartique. The European vice-champion tried a jolt in the final, getting closer slightly, but in the end Neubauer showed up under the checkered flag with a margin of just over 2 seconds, closing his 2022 with a flourish.
There can not be a hint of disappointment instead for Doriane Pin. After having literally dominated the season, with the beauty of nine victories, the European champion had to settle for the lowest step of the podium, but above all she never gave the feeling of having the pace to try to worry the first two. And perhaps, without Donno’s knockout, she would even have remained off the podium.
At the foot of the podium, the outgoing world champion Luka Nurmi and the former Formula 1 driver Adrian Sutil gave a spectacular show. A few laps from the end they continued practically side by side from Villeneuve to Acque Minerali, then the Finn found the gap that allowed him to win. And beating someone who has scored more than 140 points in the Circus is still a great consolation.
Behind them, but much more detached, we find the best of the Challenge North America drivers, namely Jason McCarthy. This final race of the Finals also crowned another world champion, namely Marco Pulcini, who took the world crown in the AM class with the seventh place overall.
Among other things, his was a real domination, because the runner-up, Nigel Schoonderwoerd, crossed the line in 11th position, but above all he did it with a delay of more than 8 “compared to the Italian. Also on the podium was Christian Brunsborg, who had been Pulcini’s most credited rival in the other two races of the weekend, while Nobuhiro Imada, first of the Asia Pacific drivers under the checkered flag, only missed him.
FERRARI CHALLENGE – Imola: Pirelli Trophy World Final
# 27 Marco Pulcini, Al Tayer Motors
Photo by: AG Photo / Manganaro
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