Month: October 2021

Report Race 2 Monza

Grande Finale in Monza. The fastest race series in Europe more than lived up to its name, under the most difficult conditions Ulf Ehninger was crowned the new champion of the BOSS GP Racing Series.

Already in the morning, the royal park of Monza presented itself grey in grey. Thomas Hummer, the man in charge of Pirelli for BOSS GP, was also looking at the sky: “It’s really difficult, if it stays like this I would take the slicks.” Shortly before the start, the rain became heavier. Most of the drivers opted for the rain tyres.

Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) did not let himself be ruffled, and in the manner of a Zen master, the Benetton driver brought his first OPEN title home. “I didn’t take any risks, changed gears early and stayed out of everything. I can’t believe it, I never expected something like this,” Ehninger could hardly believe his achievement. For Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) it was a mixed weekend. “I want to congratulate Ulf, he was always on point and deserved the title,” the old champion paid tribute to the new one.

The day’s win went to Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) again. This time, however, the FORMULA driver had to fight much harder than on the previous day: “I started on rain tyres, in the safety car period I changed to slicks. Thanks go to my mechanics.” With the fresh rubbers, the Italian was able to catch up with the long-time leader Paul O’Connell (IRL, HS Engineering), who himself took the lead with a remarkable manoeuvre in the first Lesmo bend, and overtook him shortly before the end. O’Connell was nevertheless very pleased. “I played poker, we often have conditions like this on the island, I risked the slicks, it paid off in the end,” the likeable Irishman revealed.

FORMULA podium race 2: f.l. Paul O’Connell (2nd), winner Marco Ghiotto and Thomas Jackermeier (3rd)

Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) also made it onto the podium for the first time. The rookie showed an excellent performance and was suddenly in the lead due to various tyre changes of the competitors. “On Friday I drove the Toro Rosso with which Sebastian Vettel won here for the first time, now I’m on the same podium, even in the rain. That’s really mega,” the Fanatec CEO was completely beside himself.

In the first half of the race, Michael Aberer (AUT, MA Motorsport) was one of the fastest. The rain specialist was able to make use of his experience on the slippery terrain and was soon to be found in the leading field. In the end, switching to dry tyres would probably have been the better choice, so only eighth place remained.

Series coordinator Willie Beck was also suitably satisfied after the GlobeAir Grande Finale: “We’ve seen a fantastic season without any accidents, as a BOSS GP family we’ve grown together even more this year, which gives us confidence for the new season.”

Photos: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP, Robert Lösch

Report Race 1 Monza

Championship decision postponed: Already the pre-start threw the qualifying into disarray. In the end, FORMULA Champion Marco Ghiotto won in the Monza Park and spoke of an “easy” victory.

With 22 degrees Celsius outside and 33°C asphalt temperature, the drivers found perfect racing conditions to get the Pirelli tyres into the ideal temperature window. Already on the grid the Toro Rosso of pole setter Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) caused problems. “It must have been a sensor problem in the gearbox, it would have been fine, but for safety reasons I preferred to park the car after the start,” a disappointed Gerstl stated. In the championship, the Austrian suffered a severe setback and is now seven points behind Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) with one race to go.

As Phil Stratford’s (USA, Penn Elcom Racing) Benetton remained in the pits due to gearbox problems in qualifying, it was Ehninger who took the win in the Open class. In the overall classification, however, the Benetton driver was beaten by Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) and Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International Motorsport). The two Dallara GP2 drivers flew around the course in pairs at the start before Ghiotto prevailed by just under three seconds.

“At the beginning I tried not to give Colombo any slipstream, the effect is particularly strong in Monza. Once I shook him off a bit, it was an easy win,” stated the confident champion. For Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International Motorsport) the home race ended abruptly. His GP2 rolled out at the beginning of the famous Ascari chicane while he was safely in third place.

Behind Ehninger, the battle for 4th place raged, with Walter Steding (GER, Scuderia Palladio) and Armando Mangini (ITA, MM International Motorsport) duelling it out for the entire race. Mangini tried several times to takes over out of the slipstream, but braked in the first chicane on his most promising attempt, had to go wide and could not get closer than seven tenths to the German again.

The most exciting duel took place behind Paul O’Connell (IRL, HS Engineering) for 7th place. Michael Aberer (AUT, MA Motorsport), who drives his car in the legendary Gold Leaf colours, drove close behind Thomas Jakoubek (AUT, Top Speed) the entire race before he struck in the Parabolica corner on the last lap. “I picked someone to fight with, to see where I actually stand. It was my first race in the dry, for that I am very, very satisfied, it was an awesome match,” Aberer summed up.

Tomorrow Sunday at 12:50 local time the GlobeAir Grande Finale of the 2021 BOSS GP season will take place in Monza.

Photos: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP

Report Qualifying Monza

A turbulent qualifying session for the GlobeAir Grande Finale at the Royal Park of Monza ultimately brought a pole position for Ingo Gerstl and a tragic hero in Phil Stratford.

Right at the beginning of Q1 Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) in the Toro Rosso brought out the hammer, set a 1:29.0 on his first flying lap and improved again by 1.6 (!) seconds on the second lap. All the others were beaten by this time. The closest was Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom Racing), who only managed to move up to second place with just one timed lap. Before he caused a red flag.

“Unfortunately, the gearbox got stuck in 6th gear, we had problems yesterday as well.  My mechanics worked all night, we only finished 5 minutes before qualifying, they are true heroes,” the US driver knew to thank his crew. At the moment, the crew is trying to get the Benetton from the 1997 season running again for the race. The second Benetton in the field, driven by Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing), made it to the second row of the grid in 4th place.

FORMULA driver Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International Motorsport) broke the phalanx of Formula 1 cars with the GP2 Dallara and achieved an excellent starting position for a possible first win of the season with grid position 3. Behind them it tightened up – Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) and Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International Motorsport) rushed around the track in pairs, gave each other slipstream and shared the third row of the grid in the end.

In the meantime, qualifying was interrupted again by a red flag. Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) had lost control of the GP2 when braking for the first chicane and brought the car to a halt on a sausage curb. However, race control quickly radioed the all-clear and, with the help of the marshals, the rookie was able to resume his drive. Michael Aberer (AUT, MA Motorsport) had a similar incident. Nevertheless, the Austrian still managed to finish 11th on the grid.

In between, Walter Steding (GER, Scuderia Palladio), Andreas Fiedler (GER, Fiedler Racing), Armando Mangini (ITA, MM International Motorsport) and Paul O’Connell (IRL, HS Engineering), four drivers in positions 7 to 10 on the grid, still have a chance of a podium in the FORMULA class.

The first race in the Temple of Speed will start today at 15:35 local time.

Photo: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP

Preview Monza

Last tour stop for Europe’s fastest racing series in the 2021 season: The BOSS GP Racing Series storms through the park of Monza at over 300 kph.

Monza and BOSS GP seem to be the perfect match, as both form a wonderful symbiosis of tradition and modernity. While high-tech racing cars from the last 20 years can be watched at full volume and in real races at the BOSS GP Racing Series, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza has been the venue for the Formula One Italian Grand Prix since 1950 (except in 1980). A large part of the original layout has been adapted to modern safety standards and is still used today, although the steep concrete curves can only be admired on foot.

The BOSS GP line-up last competed in Monza two years ago. Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom Racing) and Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) won that time. Meanwhile, Ingo is on the verge of obtaining his seventh BOSS GP championship title in the OPEN class. Realistically, only an early technical defect on his Toro Rosso STR1 or an accident can still prevent the Salzburg citizen from winning another title in Monza. Gerstl’s last remaining rival in the 2021 overall standings, Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing), is inferior in terms of performance and aerodynamics in his blue and white Benetton F1 from the 1997 season.

In contrast, the FORMULA class with its numerous Formula 2 and GP2 cars is much closer together. Recently, however, drivers with their Auto GP and World Series by Renault 3.5 cars have also been able to get involved on a regular basis, as Harald Schlegelmilch (LVA, HS Engineering) proved in Brno. Irishman Paul O’Connell will sit in Schlegelmilch’s car in Monza and the question on everyone’s lips is: Will he also be able to cause a surprise? After the cancelled races at the Nürburgring will not be held until 2022, Italian Marco Ghiotto (Scuderia Palladio) will be the FORMULA champion for the third time in a row. Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International), who has scored points with consistency so far, has the best chance of finishing second before the final. But only one point behind his teammate is compatriot Luca Martucci. All three are chasing the coveted home victory in Monza. Andreas Fiedler (GER, Fiedler Racing), who has recently moved closer to the top-runners, has also a great chance of stepping onto the podium.

Timetable BOSS GP GlobeAir Grande Finale Monza:

Friday, 1 October 2021
10:15–10:45 Free Practice 1
14:25–14:55 Free Practice 2

Saturday, 2 October 2021
10:30–11:00 Qualifying
15:35 Race 1 (20 minutes)

Sunday, 3 October 2021
12:50 Race 2 (25 minutes)