The Superpole which determines the front rows of each category of the 2023 Ferrari World Finals opened in the early afternoon today with the Coppa Shell AM, a starter for what we were then able to experience with the Coppa Shell and the Trofeo Pirelli and Pirelli AM.
Martinus Richter, driver of the Mertel Motorsport team, took pole position on the grid dedicated to the Coppa Shell AM World Final with a time of 1’53″648.
Richter preceded Stefano Marrazzi by 1″104, who now seemed certain of taking the Superpole until the accident that occurred to Motohiko Isozaki.
The Japanese driver, who was among the big favorites for the category pole, went off the track in the third sector, causing the red flag. Third place for Kirk Baerwaldt with the 488 Challenge Evo of the Kessel Racing team.
Paolo Scudieri (Sa.Mo.Car) finished in fifth place just ahead of Isozaki, credited with a time that was more than six seconds higher than the reference time set by Martinus Richter.
Shell Cup Superpole
Ernst Kichmayr signed the pole of the Coppa Shell World Final at the last minute with a time of 1’52″592. The best time of the Gohm – Baron Motorsport team was obtained with the checkered flag already displayed, in his last attempt, snatching the pole position to Thomas Gostner.
Gostner, favorite for category pole after the best time obtained in this morning’s qualifying, first set the provisional best time, then crashed out with just under 4 minutes to go in the session, crashing his rear into the barriers.
The race direction displayed the red flag to allow the stewards to recover the Italian’s Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, but the flags were displayed a few seconds before Manuela Gostner crossed the finish line, setting the best time for just 8 thousandths of an advantage on his father’s chrono.
Manuela’s time was then canceled because it was obtained under the red flag regime. The CDP-MP Racing team driver then improved on her time at the end of the session, but she did not go beyond third place ahead of Cameron Root by just over a tenth.
Fons Scheltema was disappointing, 2.6 seconds behind Kirchmayr’s best time. Axel Sartinger finished in sixth place, perhaps the most disappointing of the session as far as the Shell Cup was concerned.
Superpole Trofeo Pirelli and Pirelli AM
Last but not least, the Superpole session closed with the 10 minutes in which the 6 best riders in the Trofeo Pirelli and Trofeo Pirelli AM categories competed to obtain pole position.
Thomas Fleming takes revenge on Eliseo Donno regarding the flying lap by signing the Superpole of the class. Fleming set a time of 1’49″395, the fastest time of the weekend, halfway through the session.
Donno, despite trying hard until the end, was unable to do better than a time that was 299 thousandths slower than the one that earned the HR Owen – FF Corse team driver the pole.
Bence Valint is third, just over three tenths behind Fleming, while Adrian Sutil is the last driver to have suffered a deficit of less than second (over 8 tenths). Nothing to do for Matt Kurzejewski and Szymon Ladniak, fifth and sixth respectively.
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