Italian GT, Imola – Race One Report
An American First
 
Race one of the fourth round of the Italian GT Championship marked the mid-way point of the usual strange calendar, which started late, took two months off, then four rounds in a little more than a month, before the last two - Vallelunga in September and the big finale at Monza in mid-October.
 
The much anticipated heavy rain turned out to be...scorching hot sun; so 30°C for the late Saturday afternoon showdown.
 
The much depleted 20 car grid took the green flag with a surprise at the first Tamburello chicane - Capello kept the lead, but Di Benedetto in the Vette grabbed second spot and was looking for first place.

Bonanomi was down to third, ahead of Piccini, leading the Cup class; Cordoni, who hadn't had the best of starts; Iacone, in the first Cup Porsche; Sanna, in the second Gallardo; then Passuti, Pierleoni and Fornaroli.

The first lap had yet to finish when Bonanomi made a (rookie) mistake, spinning at the Variante Alta and losing several spots; finding himself in the mid of the Cup class pack...is that all for the start? Apparently so!
 
Cordoni was soon finally up to speed and took Piccini for third overall. Meanwhile, Bonanomi was recovering quickly from his initial mistake and soon reached the tail of the Autorlando Porsche of Cordoni;  overtaking him just after the Tamburello chicane. In the Cup class Pierleoni in the "old" Ferrari 430 surprised Passuti and took his spot.
 
Upfront, Di Benedetto was very much in touch with Capello – a welcome surprise as the "Vette" is clearly not as "fresh" as the Audi R8. Piccini still led in the Cup class with a safe margin and Iacone was second, first of the Porsches, while Sanna was making his black Gallardo as wide as he could in order to keep behind him a five-car pack consisting of Pierleoni, Passuti, Iacone, Fornaroli and Baccani.
 
Mostly unseen by the TV cameras, the GT4 class was as good as gold, with the leading four Ginettas and the Cayman having a very good and clean battle. Capelletti was leading from series debutant Zanini, Saggese, Frazza and Brambati.

 
The mid-phase of the race with the mandatory pitstops shook-up a little bit the standings in all classes, but. thanks to having no time penalty, the Corvette of Merendino-(Di Benedetto) now led with a safe margin from the Audi duo of Cicognani-(Capello) and Sonvico-(Bonanomi). Fourth was the Porsche of Ruberti-(Cordoni), which still had much work to do in order to improve on its position.

The Cup class was again led by a Lamborghini, but Livio-(Piccini) was being pressed hard by the Porsche of Tavano-(Iacone).

Third was Gagliardini-(Passuti), fourth was Giovanardi-(Baccani) and fifth was Malucelli-(Pierleoni). The other Lambo of Stancheris-(Sanna) was well down the order, thanks to the maximum time penalty arising from its previous good results. Alas for Iacone, he would soon have to retire his Porsche.
 
The final part of the race was pretty much a "handicap one" - Merendino was the slowest of the GT3 pack and Cicognani was gaining on him, but not too rapidly; while Ruberti was clearly the fastest of the four but had to make up a lots of time to the second R8 of Sonvico. At the chequered flag all four GT3 cars were very close to each other, but at the end it was the first ever overall victory for a Corvette in the Italian series.

We discovered later Merendino, the second driver, some years ago was so ill that for some months he was totally paralysed; he eventually recovered and returned to racing and finally today won a very important race. Well done.

Cicognani was second, and Sonvico completed the podium in the second Audi. Ruberti could only manage to finish fourth in the Autorlando Porsche, but he was hampered by an intestinal virus which had the better of him over the weekend.

GT Cup was won by the Gallardo of Livio-Piccini, while Gagliardini-Passuti kept second for Porsche. Then came another Weissach car, that of Baccani-Giovanardi (a good result for the Touring Car ace).

Fourth was the Ferrari of Malucelli-Pierleoni, but only sixth the second Lamborghini of Sanna-Stancheris.

The GT4 race was another maiden victory for the Cayman of Donaviti-Brambati (thanks to having no time penalty at the pit stop), then the Ginetta of Saggese-Emiliani and Cappelletti-Pozzi.

A very good race, then, with two maiden victories and some good stories; surely the true essence of what Motorsport is all about.

Gabriele Tosi