Italian GT, Magione – GT Cup Race Reports
A Win Apiece For Porsche And Ferrari
 
The “solo” races of the GT Cup offer us the possibility to have a close look at the most popular (in numbers) class of the Italian series, so at least we can clearly see how the last BOP works to balance the cars.

The qualifying sessions offered the usual scenario, with the Lamborghinis still the class of the field. Sanna got the pole for Race 1, but only by three tenths from Passuti in his Porsche.

Behind this duo were four more Weissach cars –those of Iacone, Fornaroli, Bellini and Del Monte - then the other Gallardo of Livio. Behind Livio was the only competitive Ferrari F430 Challenge, from the Malucelli team, with Pierleoni at the wheel.

For Race 2 it was more of the same upfront, the only change being in the driver pair with Piccini in the top spot.

But this time Malucelli found himself well up in the grid, clocking a very fast second place. Mastronardi and Gagliardini made up the third row, both in Porsches, then the other “bull” of Stancheris, and Baccani in a Porsche.
 
Race 1

The start was, as is usual at Magione, a bumping one, with Sanna safe in the lead; while Passuti and Iacone, touching each other, ended their duel with Passuti doing some agricultural action. He managed to rejoin some places down, while Iacone too hade some problems and lost the spot to Fornaroli. Fourth (from ninth on the grid) was the Russian Basov; fifth was Livio, who got Bellini down the main straight; seventh was Del Monte, then Pierleoni in the first of the Ferraris and the recovering Passuti.
 
Sanna was trying very hard to escape, but he managed to build only a three-second cushion. In the meantime, Livio got Basov in a very ‘Italian’ move. Iacone also got the spot from Fornaroli, for second overall. The Russian Basov was clearly struggling on grip and now led a five-car train, the others being Bellini, Del Monte, Passuti and Pierleoni.
 
The situation didn’t change until the mandatory pitstops that always, thanks to the time penalties, turn the standings upside down. The new leader was Mastronardi-(Fornaroli), second was Tavano-(Iacone), then only third Stancheris-(Sanna); followed by Gagliardini-(Passuti), Baccani-(Bellini), Kruglyk-(Basov) and a fast recovering Malucelli-(Pierleoni).
 
The top position didn’t change until the end and Mastronardi took a very convincing victory for Porsche.

The battle, instead, for the remaining spots of the podium was much more intense. Stancheris was clearly in tyre- and brakes-trouble, making his Gallardo as wide as a tractor. But despite that he recovered the lost ground to Iacone to challenging the second spot; but, in trying a very optimistic move and with Iacone keeping the door firmly shut, the black Gallardo’s only option was to go over the (high) kerb - but in doing so, he damaged the undertray of the car and retired two laps later.

Valentino Fornaroli: "I am happy, we needed this result. I started well and I passed the car to Rino in third and he drova a great second stint. He afterwards managed very well the advantage and we won but we have been very lucky as we had a puncture near the finish line. Things went very well".

Rino Mastronardi: "We needed this victory. In the first two races we were fast but did not harvested what we hoped for. This time everything fell into place but we have also been lucky as I got a puncture on the finish line, should we have had one lap more we would have had another negative day. But luckily enough today fortune was on our side".

This was the last moment of a very exciting race. Iacone was able to keep the third spot, while the new second was Gagliardini who completed a clean sweep of the podium for Porsche.

Behind the podium spots were still two other Porsches; Bellini finishing fourth and Romani fifth. The only remaining Gallardo finished only sixth with a very angry Livio - thanks to the time penalty he couldn’t do anything more - then Malucelli in the first of the Ferraris.
 
Race 2

The start of the second race was a ”no, no, no”, after Piccini started way too early, so they had to do it once again. Second time around was much cleaner and Piccini kept the lead.

Malucelli was trying to defend second place, but in doing so lost ground. Mastronardi was now second, then Malucelli, Gagliardini, Baccani, Kruglyk and Stancheris. Tavano was missing, because he touched another car and the “chronic” fragility of the Porsche radiator claimed another victim; race over for him.
 
Kruglyk suffered two very demoralizing overtaking moves by both the Gallardos of Stancheris and Zanardini; one on the main straight, the other under braking. But Zanardini had no time to enjoy the move - two laps later he had a very scary moment when, at the end of the fastest part of the track, the throttle stuck open. The gravel miraculously slowed the car enough to touch the barrier, not without damage, but avoiding major troubles; race over for him anyway.
 
After this very scary moment, Piccini was now pressing hard from Mastronardi, but everyone in the top six spots were very close. Another retirement was Gagliardini, who retired with a hole in the radiator. The mandatory pitstop again shook up the standings and the new leader was Pierleoni-(Malucelli), pressed very hard indeed by Bellini-(Baccani), then the two Lambos of Piccini-(Livio) and Sanna-(Stancheris). Fifth was Fornaroli-(Mastronardi), then Basov-(Kruglyk). Bellini wasted no time and overtook Pierleoni, but his lead was very brief after a small error led to the status quo being re-established. But Bellini was on fire, maybe too much, and spun exiting a corner, losing four places.
 
Despite the best efforts of the Lamborghini duo, they couldn’t close the gap to the Ferrari and Pierleoni took a most unexpected win.

Sanna overtook Livio in a robust move that was virtually the last one of the race. Bellini recovered from his errors up to fourth overall. Fifth was Fornaroli, then the two other Porsches of Romani and Basov.

Matteo Malucelli: "It has been a very good and very fast race, I did not hope in such a result as at the start I had a contact with one of the Porsches to avoid being overtaken and in the main straight I tried to close every possible gap. I believe convergence got damaged and therefore the car was sliding all over the place. This victory is very useful and I reckon we have realized that something is wrong in main straights as in this condition we cannot overtake. We would prefer being a bit slower in corners and possibly have an engine similar to the others' to try and fight".

Flavio Pierleoni: "I tried not to make mistakes and I defended myself from the attacks as in some sectors I was struggling a lot. At the end of the main straight I could not choose the best trajectory and I had to go through the corner slower but I managed to defend my position. This time things went well but we are going to be struggling in fast tracks, we hope to try and get at the same level of our rivals".

After two very “hot” races, the overall standings find the regular Malucelli-Pierleoni and their Ferrari on top with 76 points (but with two full scores to drop), then the Gallardos of Sanna-Stancheris, 58, and Piccini-Livio, 56. The Porsches aren’t far behind, with Mastronardi-Fornaroli on 54, Passuti-Gagliardini 48, and Tavano-Iacone 45.
 
It Should be a very exciting second part of the season, with the GT Cup runners again having a race to themselves at Mugello just before the big finale in Monza.
 
Next stop, the “torrid” Imola on July the 15th.

Gabriele Tosi