Many twists and turns in the Italian Sports Prototype Championship: Ferrara and Ferri retire while in the lead. Even Marchiante was forced to slow down when he was first. The Swede: “I was really lucky.” The driver from Como remains leader
The notes of the Swedish anthem resound after race 2 in the second round of the 2024 Italian Sports Prototype Championship, which took place this weekend at the Piero Taruffi circuit in Vallelunga (Campagnano di Roma): they accompany Emil Hellberg on the top step of the podium (V-Action) at the end of a race full of twists and turns. Seventeen laps in which, in addition to the reigning champion, Davide Uboldi (Emotion), Luigi Ferrara (V-Action), Pietro Ferri (V-Action) and Mattia Marchiante (Bad Wolves) alternated in the lead. In particular, Ferrara and Ferri were repeating the duel of the previous day, when they were stopped by a problem that caused a good part of the platoon to suffer. “A problem with the differential,” declared Ivan Bellarosa, head of Wolf Cars Racing, which supplies the new Aprilia-powered Raidens.
The first to give up was Ferrari, on the 10th lap, when he was enjoying repeating the success of the previous day, five laps later it was the turn of Ferri, who had inherited the leadership, while he was managing the race with over 7 seconds on a Branding comeback. And even the latter didn’t have time to realize he was in the lead before he was forced to slow down dramatically with the smoking car due to an overly aggressive downshift. The fifteen-year-old, however, gritted his teeth, still managing to bring his Raiden to the finish line in sixth position.
In addition to the Swede, Alex Yoong (Luxury) also took advantage of all these troubles, collecting another second place after Saturday’s, and Uboldi himself, who maintained his lead in the standings with third place: the driver from Lomazzo, who he has experienced a physically difficult week, he now has a 5 point advantage over the Malaysian (first among the Under 25s also in the race) and 9 over Hellberg. Fourth at the finish line (and first of the DBs also in the general) was the other fifteen-year-old Riccardo Tarsi (Bad Wolves). The latest insult was suffered by Andrea Frizza (V-Action), who had finished seventh overall in the GT4 race in the morning (second in class): he was fifth when the differential of his Raiden gave way just in sight of the finish line which he cut into neutral, losing two positions. His place was inherited by Andrea Raiconi (Emotion) who won the Master classification and is leader. The two debutants in the championship Andrea Mosca (Bad Wolves) and Emanuele Romani (Luxury) also crossed the finish line, the latter penalized 10″ for not respecting the starting procedures. Omar Magliona (Luxury), the king of the climb, was classified (behind Ferri) 11th although he was forced to retire after a contact. A tired Angelique Detavernier (Luxury) returned to the pits before the start.
Emil Hellberg: “I have to say that I was lucky today, Uboldi had passed me at the start but then you were able to overtake him again. Ferrara and Ferri were definitely faster and I couldn’t keep up with them. These are races, the first to cross the finish line is the winner. But I’m sorry for Luigi and Pietro, who are my teammates, sad to see them stopped.”
Alex Yoong: “I’m sorry that I haven’t managed to win yet but today I didn’t have the pace to do it. DNFs are part of racing and so I’m happy for the points on this podium.”
Davide Uboldi: “The most important thing is to have retained the championship lead on a weekend in which I suffered a lot of physical problems (I was ill all week). Yesterday was a very difficult race, today I tried to gather all my strength and luck rewarded me. I made a good start, I gave everything, I did 3-4 laps really well then I had a crisis with the set-up, I let the others pass, avoiding making mistakes which could lead to losing a lot of points. Lady Luck rewarded me with an unexpected podium and the championship lead for the second weekend in a row. Better than this…”.
Riccardo Tarsi: “Fourth place is good compared to what happened yesterday due to the contact with Hellberg (his race lasted a few hundred metres). Fourth place repays us for the work done over the weekend. Third place was close, I didn’t make it. But we are satisfied.”
Andrea Raiconi: “In free practice I had only done 6 laps due to a clutch problem before handing the car over to Amaduzzi for the second free practice, qualifying and race 1. In Pergusa I had only done 8 laps. For me this appointment was therefore a training session. The hardest thing on this track is the fatigue, it’s really hard on the neck with these cars. The goal was to get to the end, keeping a good pace. We succeeded, we were right and I’m very happy.”
