Schlagwort: Saturday

Report: Race 1 Imola

Alessandro Bracalente reduces the gap to championship leader Ghiotto by winning his 4th race of the year.

Alessandro Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center) drove unchallenged to his fourth victory of the season in the FORMULA class. The BOSS GP rookie thus reduced the gap to Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) in the points standings from 15 to only 12 points. Now it is clear that the championship will be decided in the last race on Sunday. Ghiotto followed Bracalente throughout the race like a shadow. Only at the end of the race he lost the connection to Bracalente and the gap grow to an high of four seconds at the finish line.

Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) showed an incredible pace at the finish. At the beginning of the race he dropped back to 9th place, but on the last lap he made it onto the podium. For Martucci it is his fifth visit on the podium in 2019. In a courageous last lap manoeuvre, he overtook Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Top Speed), who seems to have bad luck on his racing boots. For de Plano it was nevertheless the second-best result of the season and the highest finish since the Hockenheim season opener.

Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) was also involved in the fight for the podium at the opening stage of the race. In the end he finished fifth. He scored five championship points more than Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA, Speed Center), who finished seventh. Tomorrow Haezebrouck and Fiedler will fight for third place in the FORMULA ranking.

Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag) could not set any time in qualifying because his car had not been repaired in time. That didn’t stop him from moving up to 6th place from last position on the grid. For several laps he battled with Haezebrouck for position.

Walter Steding (DEU, Inter Europol) was surprisingly in the top 6 at the beginning of the race, ahead of Martucci and Haezebrouck. With rank 8, he finished in good midfield this time.

Nicolas Matile (MCO, Zig-Zag) finished 9th with the only Auto GP Lola in the field. Peter Göllner won the internal team duel between him and Christian Eicke (both SUI, Speed Center).

Gianluca Ripoli (ITA, MM International) and Ulf Ehninger (DEU, ESBA Racing) had to retire early in the race. Because Ripoli stopped at the warm-up lap, he had to start at the back of the grid at the Indy start. He tried to improve his position in the first lap and collided with Ehninger’s Benetton in the Tosa hairpin.

The overall victory was again secured by Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed). Not surprisingly, the already crowned OPEN champion in his Toro Rosso dominated the eleventh race of the season.

The 12th and last race of the BOSS GP anniversary season will take place tomorrow Sunday at 2:10 p.m., before that at 10:30 a.m. is BOSS GP’s warm-up session.

Report: Qualifying Assen

Roy Glaser (Dallara GP2)

Ingo Gerstl broke the lap record at the TT Circuit in Assen on the first day with a 1:17.157 min under optimal conditions. Stratford in the Benetton in row 1, Glaser and Schnitzenbaumer start from row 2.

The Austrian Ingo Gerstl (Top Speed) was the first to qualify. Right at the beginning Gerstl used the free track in his Toro Rosso STR1, already in the second lap he managed a 1:17.2 min, shortly afterwards he improved the best time again to 1:17.157. In the following laps he improved in sector 3, but it was not enough for another record time. Nevertheless he set the fastest lap ever driven in Assen – an official lap record (currently: 1:19.371 by Gerstl in 2016) is only valid in the race.

Phil Stratford (Penn Elcom Racing) will start the races (starting time 1st race: today at 16:30 GMT +1) next to Gerstl. The American in the 1997-Benetton had to go into Q2 and was long on rank 3, late (in his 9th lap) he could improve to rank 2. Roy Glaser (Speed Center) held this position until shortly before the end. The FORMULA winner from Hockenheim started in Q1 and improved lap by lap. Finally, Florian Schnitzenbaumer, leader of the FORMULA standings, had nothing against the Swiss. In the end, the Top Speed driver was a second behind Glaser. Thus the two fastest FORMULA drivers were ahead of Wolfgang Jaksch (F Xtreme Racing). However, last year’s winner in the Super Aguri SA06 is a hot tip for the race.

Andreas Fiedler (Fiedler Racing) achieved a respectable result on his return to BOSS GP: The German had injured himself in a crash in Monza, and is making his comeback this weekend in Assen – he starts from 6th place.

Walter Steding (Inter Europol Competition) proved to be really quick this weekend. In the meantime, Steding was even placed 5th. During the session he had to park his Dallara-GP2, so he dropped back to 7th place towards the end.

Peter Göllner and Christian Eicke (both Speed Center) were on the track for a while in a row. The Swiss Göllner had an accident in free practice. The car spun and the GP2 Dallara hit the tyre stacks with its tail. The Speed Center crew managed to set up the spare car in the shortest possible time and get it ready for the following qualifying session. Göllner thanked them and finished eighth. The Speed Center duo blasted Veronika Cicha, who achieved her best qualifying result of the year with 9th place.

Flat curbs and a wide track promise a lot of overtaking possibilities for the afternoon. According to current weather forecasts, it should remain dry despite overcast.

Report: Qualifying Assen

Roy Glaser (Dallara GP2)

Ingo Gerstl sprengte bei optimalen Bedingungen am ersten Tag mit einer 1:17.157 min den Rundenrekord auf dem TT Circuit in Assen. Stratford im Benetton in Reihe 1, Glaser und Schnitzenbaumer starten aus Reihe 2.

Der Österreicher Ingo Gerstl (Top Speed) ging als Erster ins Qualifying. Gleich zu Beginn nützte Gerstl in seinem Toro Rosso STR1 die freie Bahn, schon in der zweiten Runde gelang ihm eine 1:17.2 min, kurz darauf verbesserte er die Bestzeit nochmals auf 1:17.157. In den folgenden Runden gelang ihm zwar in Sektor 3 eine Verbesserung, für eine erneute Bestzeit reichte es dann aber nicht mehr. Dennoch setzte er damit die schnellste je gefahrene Runde in Assen – ein offizieller Rundenrekord (derzeit: 1:19.371 von Gerstl 2016) gilt aber erst im Rennen.

Phil Stratford (Penn Elcom Racing) geht bei den Rennen (Startzeit 1. Rennen: heute um 16:30 Uhr GMT +1) neben Gerstl in den Startsprint. Der US-Amerikaner im 1997er-Benetton musste in Q2 ausrücken und lag lange auf Rang 3, erst spät (in seiner 9. Runde) konnte er sich auf Rang 2 verbessern. Diesen Rang inne hatte bis kurz vor Schluss Roy Glaser (Speed Center). Der FORMULA-Sieger aus Hockenheim ging in Q1 an den Start, und verbesserte sich dort Runde für Runde. Dem Schweizer hatte schlussendlich auch Florian Schnitzenbaumer, Tabellenführer in der FORMULA, nichts entgegenzusetzen. Der Top Speed-Fahrer lag am Ende gut eine Sekunde hinter Glaser. Damit lagen die zwei schnellsten FORMULA-Fahrer noch vor Wolfgang Jaksch (F Xtreme Racing). Der Vorjahressieger im Super Aguri SA06 ist aber fürs Rennen ein heißer Tipp.

Andreas Fiedler (Fiedler Racing) schaffte bei seiner Rückkehr in die BOSS GP ein ordentliches Ergebnis: Der Deutsche hatte sich in Monza an einem Wirbel verletzt, und gibt an diesem Wochenende in Assen sein Comeback – er startet von Rang 6.

Richtig schnell zeigte sich dieses Mal Walter Steding (Inter Europol Competition). Steding war zwischenzeitlich sogar auf Rang 5 platziert. Noch während der Session musste er seinen Dallara-GP2 abstellen, darum rutschte er gegen Ende zurück auf Rang 7.

 

Peter Göllner und Christian Eicke (beide Speed Center) waren eine Zeit lang hintereinander auf der Strecke unterwegs. Der Schweizer Göllner hatte im Freien Training einen Unfall. Ausgangs der Schikane vor Start-Ziel ging er zu früh ans Gas, das Auto drehte sich, und der GP2-Dallara schlug mit dem Heck in die Reifenstapel. Die Speed Center-Crew schaffte es, das Ersatzauto in kürzester Zeit herzurichten und fürs anschließende Qualifying fit zu machen. Göllner dankte es, und wurde Achter. Das Speed Center-Duo sprengte Veronika Cicha (H&A Racing), die mit Rang 9 ihr bestes Qualifying-Resultat in diesem Jahr erreichte.

Flache Kurbs und eine breite Strecke versprechen für den Nachmittag jede Menge Überholmöglichkeiten. Laut aktuellen Wetterprognosen soll es trotz dichter Bewölkung trocken bleiben.

 

Fotos: Michael Kavena/BOSS GP