Nicky Pastorelli won the two races held at
Zolder, Belgium, last weekend, during the second round of the inaugural Trofeo
Maserati GranTurismo MC. However the Dutch star, who is a pilot for VICI Racing
in the American Le Mans Series, is 'transparent' in the standings because he was
taking part as Maserati's celebrity guest driver. There were fifteen cars at the
starting line for the second round of the one-make series, thirteen of which
were the GranTurismo MC Trofeo (run by Maserati Corse) and two the GranTurismo
MC GT4 version run by private teams. As for the racers' nationalities, nine
countries were represented.
Race 1
In the end, the rain forecast for the race did not fall
as the cars lined up on the grid.
This meant that the drivers got off to a dry start but the
clouds menaced above. The starting grid, following Pastorelli and Moncada’s
relegation to the back of the field, was headed by Hommerson.
The green flag saw Sperati edge in front with a ‘jump start’
that was right on the limit. Going into turn one, Sperati
led from Hommerson, Ardagna Perez, Zumerle, Wauters, Sicart,
Necchi and Piancastelli. Down at the back, after making an
impressive
attacking start, Pastorelli was up in eleventh, tucked
in behind Enrico Moncada.
Just like at Monza, the opening phase was spectacular.
Kutemann spun at turn one on tyres that were still cold and
Hommerson turned up the heat so much on Sperati that he
locked the front wheels at the Villeneuve chicane.
Jonathan Sicart’s GranTurismo MC GT4 left his braking as
late as possible to defend his position from the more
powerful Trofeo’s, especially the one with Paolo Necchi on
board. The excitement continued with Sperati running the
Lucien Bianchibocht curve too wide, losing control and
careering into the blameless Gaetano Ardagna Perez. For the
third placed Columbian it was a case of déjà vu as he had
been the victim of a similar incident at Monza when Manuel
Villa ran into him.
So, the lead of the race fought out by the GranTurismo-based
racer passed to Niek Hommerson, with Wauters in
second (6”5 down), Zumerle (9”0), Maggi (11”9) and
Pastorelli (13”4) having climbed to fifth place at this
point. The Dutchman’s pace was simply electric and he
fully exploited his new tyres to sneak past Maggi, Zumerle
and then Wauters.
Twenty-seven minutes from the end of the race, spots of rain
began to appear on the track. However, it wasn’t heavy and
only came down on certain sections of the circuit.
Pastorelli was attracting all the attention but there was
lots going on right down the field too, like the battle between Maggi, Necchi and Piancastelli. The young Romagna driver had
enough about him to nip past the other two into fifth when
they were involved in a private squabble.
On lap seven, Pastorelli posted a time of 1:41.625, one he
bettered a lap later to set the race’s fastest lap time
(1:41.269). The Dutchman’s aggression saw him draw up close
to Hommerson and then overtake him at turn eight on lap
nine.
Behind the leading pair, Paolo Necchi and Nicolò
Piancastelli were going head-to-head, as were Enrico Moncada
and Francesco Maggi. Having started from the very back,
Moncada was now the overall leader after a series of
overtaking moves. The latest one, on Necchi, was both cheeky
and clinical.
While all this was going on, the Trofeo’s youngest entrant
was having gearbox trouble with his racer. Nicolò Piancastelli tried his
best but had no choice but to pull out.
Behind Pastorelli and Hommerson, Wauters, Zumerle and
Moncada were within a second of each other. Moncada seemed
to be the quickest of the trio but he was being held off by
great driving from the ex-rally driver, allowing Wauters to
gradually edge away.
A few laps from the end, Moncada sparked an intense duel
with Zumerle with the two constantly swapping positions. In
the end it was the man from Catania who made fourth place
his. Up front, Pastorelli lost the lead when with a gearbox
command glitch and Hommerson wasted no time in taking top
spot. Pastorelli then rest the system, upped the tempo and
quickly cruised into first again.
With just four minutes of the encounter left on the clock, Moncada was doing
all he could to get past the Belgian singer, Wauters. The two
were fighting hard but clean with Wauters using all his
local knowledge of the Zolder circuit to take the chequered
flag behin Pastorelli and Niek Hommerson. The Belgian
should however be considered the true race winner as guest driver Pastorelli doesn’t collect any championship points.
Behind the front four were placed Pietro Zumerle, Paolo Necchi
and Steven Goldstein. Goldstein’s placing (a virtual sixth
position)
sees him move into the series lead together with his
partner, Peter Sundberg, and Sergio Rota (who was not
appearing at the Zolder round).
With ninth place overall in his pocket, Jonathan Sicart
finished ahead of Peter Kutemann and so takes the GT4
championship lead.
Race 2
Even though the clouds loomed overhead, the second
Trofeo race took place on a dry track and in low temperatures. The start was a smooth one and saw Pastorelli end lap one in
the lead with Perez and Sundberg behind him and Petrini
fourth. Things were heating up between Sundberg and Ardagna
Perez, just as they were between Necchi and Petrini. Necchi,
the director of MotorMedia, was in good form and stole into
fourth. For Petrini the fun was just beginning as he was
also overtaken by Smurra and Hommerson.
La Mazza began his comeback from down the field and by lap
four he was up to eighth, just in front of Wauters and Maggi.
Things were tight: the top ten drivers were within 15
seconds of one another while only three seconds separated
the top three.
Ardagna Perez, despite having Sundberg right on his tail, was
cutting a few tenths off Pastorelli's lead as the laps went
by. The Venezuelan was just 1"3 down on the Dutchman and
he held a
three tenths advantage over the Swede. Close behind Sundberg
was Paolo Necchi.
Battles were taking place all over the track and they were
often on the limit: the race officials were forced to show
the black and white flag to Petrini, Hommerson and Maggi for
straying off the track.
The race was centred on the struggle for second place with
Ardagna Perez, Sundberg, Necchi and Smurra all going for it.
The break came on lap 12 when Sundberg nudged past Perez
just as the officials hit Petrini and Hommerson with a drive
through for ignoring the track limits at turn 9.
This episode allowed Maggi, who had swept past Wauters, to
inherit sixth spot when he had been in ninth. Smurra was
ahead of him but over 15 seconds away. All eyes were now on
the fight for third between Ardagna Perez, Necchi and Smurra
as well as the duel between Sundberg and Pastorelli. The
Swede managed to reduce the gap to the leader and tried,
without success, to get past him. The fight between Emanuele
Smurra and Paolo Necchi was altogether different. The Trofeo
Maserati's first ever champion displayed grit that he had
not shown before and continuously attacked the MotorMedia
director but Necchi did well to beat Smurra off with a range
of defensive moves.
The order did not change from this point on and so, after
forty minutes of racing, Nicky Pastorelli took the chequered
flag from Sundberg (0”520 down), Ardagna Perez (21”203) and
Paolo Necchi (26”796). Necchi completes the 'true' podium as
Pastorelli, a Maserati guest, does not earn any points.
Emanuele Smurra was another driver to finish in the points
and he also set the race's best lap time of 1’41”963. Next
up came Francesco Maggi, Kris Wauters, Niek Hommerson and
Marco Petrini. Jonathan Sicart, as expected, topped the GT4
standings ahead of Peter Kutemann.
Now that the curtain has come down on Zolder, the Goldstein/Sundberg
pairing have taken the overall championship lead with
Jonathan Sicart commanding in GT4.
