Sicily brings good luck to “The Doctor” Loconte: success at Monte Erice

Angelo “The Doctor” Loconte’s adventure in the new elite series of Italian hillclimbs, the Italian Superclimb Championship, kicked off with two podiums and an overall victory in the aggregate ranking. With the 66th Monte Erice, the first stage of the championship, the driver from Fasano, at the wheel of his brand new RSTB 2.0 class Mini Cooper JCW F56, achieved the overall victory in the aggregate ranking among the strictly production-derived cars. A race played on the edge of hundredths of a second.

On the tortuous Trapani track, in the first climb of the race The Doctor particularly suffered from the “brutality” of the power delivery of his Mini turbo, unable to express himself at his best among the slippery Erice bends, however obtaining a decent performance which earned him the 3rd position overall in Racing Start and the second in the RSTB 2.0 class, with a time of 3’58”56, just 1.52 seconds behind the top.

In the second heat of the race the Apulian driver was able to make some small set-up adjustments on the car made available to him by the GT Racing team, improving the set-up and consequently the driving feeling, which allowed him to significantly improve his performance, winning the 2nd position of the group, stopping the clock at a time of 3’55”68, just 17 hundredths from the best time of the heat. A performance which, added to that of the first climb, allowed the rider from Brindisi to climb onto the top step of the podium in the aggregate ranking, ahead of his rivals by 0.46 and 0.50 seconds respectively.

“A beautiful match in terms of competitive intensity, played on the edge of a hundredths – declares Loconte at the end of the match – with opponents of great caliber. A good start to a championship that will be hard fought. The important thing is to be in the game: this is the response of Monte Erice The car is really high-performance, but to repay the Tagliente/Baccaro staff we need to have more confidence in the new Mini, which has some aggressive characteristics to be managed in order to really exploit it. In Erice a driver with a capital P could have done much better in chronometric terms, but I think I’m still a little uncomfortable with the healthy ‘nervousness’ of the little JCW. I hope to improve from race to race. Now, head to my Fasano!”.

The circus of the Italian Superclimb Championship now moves to the land of Puglia for Angelo Loconte’s home race, which will take place on the weekend of 10 – 12 May, on the 5,600 meters of the fast track of the 65th Coppa Selva di Fasano.