A dramatic race at the end of the Pirelli Masters 2019. Gerstl and Bracalente as lucky winners.

Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) had to start from last place like yesterday. However, this did not stop the Austrian from winning his home race in the Toro Rosso STR1 ten-cylinder beast.

Gerstl continuously pushed forwards and passed the naturally slower Formula 2 cars without much risk. In lap 12, he overtook OPEN rival Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom) in the Benetton for second place, one lap later he passed race one winner Alessandro Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center), who had been in the lead up to then.

Just before the start it started to rain. All drivers changed to Pirelli Cinturato rain tyres. In the middle of the race the rain shower stopped, and it began to dry up on the racing line. At that time Rookie Bracalente lost his lead, one lap later after Gerstl he had to let pass Stratford too.

Behind Gerstl and Stratford, the fight for victory in the FORMULA class began: Bracalente had to defend against Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) repeatedly. Four racing cars now fought for overall victory – Gerstl, Stratford, Bracalente and Ghiotto. On several occasions Ghiotto tried to get past Bracalente, but it took him the very last lap to make it.

Gerstl crossed the finish line just 0.4 seconds in front of Stratford. Behind them Ghiotto defended the class lead, but only up to 200 metres before the finish. In the last corner he spun on the slippery track and Bracalente slipped through again – this race couldn’t have ended much more dramatically.

Florian Schnitzenbaumer (DEU, Top Speed), who crossed the finish line behind Bracalente and Marco Ghiotto, also finished on the FORMULA podium today. The reigning FORMULA champion and Armando Mangini (ITA, MM International) fought a duel worth seeing, which was finally decided by a mistake of Mangini in turn 1. Schnitzenbaumer did complain about his own aggressiveness, but with today’s performance he can finally take home a trophy after his retirement yesterday.

Sergio Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) finished fifth in class, Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA, Inter Europol) confirmed the performance of the previous day with 6th place in FORMULA. Thomas Jakoubek (AUT, Top Speed) and Christian Eicke (SUI, Speed Center) duelled for 7th place for a long time, with a better end for Jakoubek.

Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) experienced a weekend to forget. The double winner from Hockenheim could not even start on the first race day, in the second race he retired after six laps. Race 5 and race 6 of the BOSS GP 2019 will follow in three weeks in the Royal Park of Monza. From June 14th to 16th, the BOSS GP will contest the Competizione BOSS GP on the fastest racetrack on the calendar.

Top 3 points standings:
OPEN class: Ingo Gerstl (75 points), Phil Stratford (47), “Piter” (44)
FORMULA class: Alessandro Bracalente (92), Marco Ghiotto (80), Armando Mangini (54)

Race 5 and race 6 of the BOSS GP 2019 will follow in three weeks in the Royal Park of Monza. From June 14th to 16th, the BOSS GP will contest the Competizione BOSS GP on the fastest racetrack on the calendar.

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