Well, it was an interesting race for the BOSS GP crews at the heart of Czechian motorsport in Brno on saturday afternoon. Seven out of 12 drivers finished the race properly. Johann Ledermair (Ledermair Motorsport) made it to the top of the podium, followed by Salvatore De Plano (MM International Motorsport) and Mahaveer Raghunathan (PS Racing by Coloni Motorsport).
Already before the start, Florian Schnitzenbaumer (Top Speed) dropped out of the grid during the warm up lap due to technical issues. So finally a start grid of 14 drivers in total, eleven FORMULA cars, went on the track.
“It was a good start. I managed to stay close to the OPEN class cars, that worked out well”, race winner Johann Ledermair summed up. It was an impressive start for runner up Salvatore De Plano as well, who overtook a couple of cars and made it to position 4 of the total grid (incl. OPEN class) during the first two laps, what means position 2 of the FORMULA grid.
After a spun off the track by Peter Göllner (Speed Center) in lap 6, the safety car had to turn on the track and slowed the grid down for two laps. “That phase seemed a bit like loosing the thread of the race, taking the tension of the race”, Ledermair explained after the race. Goal of the young Austrian was, to attack the OPEN class cars in front of him. But due to another yellow flag phase after a further spin off the track by Göllner his plan didn’t work out as planned, Ledermair admitted. So at the end the Austrian crossed the finishing line on position 3 after 20:59,913 min of the overall grid and as first FORMULA driver of the grid, what meant P1 of his class. At the same time P3 of the overall start grid by Ledermair meant completion of “Austrian festival” in Brno, since the three top positions all were held by Austrian drivers (P1: Ingo Gerstl, P2: Bernd Herndlhofer (both OPEN class)). Ledermair performed his bis lap with 1:45,709 (lap 2).
The Austrian was satisfied with the result of the race: “It was a clear win of the FORMULA class for me, so me and my team are happy with that.” Looking ahead, Ledermair is thinking about the setup of his Dallara GP2: “We continuously work on the setup of the car since the first race of the season. Working with new tyres is a totally new experience for us, so we have to test and improve a lot of things each race. During today’s race we learned some new issues again, so we are not satisfied with the setup by 100% by now and will work on the setup until tomorrow’s race again”, Ledermair gave an insight for the rest of the day of Team Ledermair.
Meanwhile Salvatore De Plano gave a wide smile after crossing the finish line on P2 of the FORMULA class with a total time of 21:15,262 (best lap: 1:48,308 in lap 3). “Fantastico, fantastico!”, the Italian cheered. As a matter of fact the driver of team MM International Intersport made a huge jump from start position 8 to position 4 at the end of the race. Struggling with some issues De Plano wasn’t really happy with the performance of the Qualifying, but explained: “I don’t know exactly, what the problem was. The car was perfect, but I don’t know why – the car was suddenly slowly at the middle of the corner.” Things worked out much better at the race, so De Plano was happy with the performance during the race. “Thanks to my team, we did a great job”, he said after the race, looking forward to Sunday’s race in Brno. “I will push immediately from the start”, is the plan of the overall ranked third of the FORMULA class. “I’m looking forward for a strong competition again, that’s always much more fun to race. So it will be great with Florian Schnitzenbaumer on track again”, De Plano explained.
The Top trio of the FORMULA class was completed by young Indian Mahaveer Raghunathan on P3, who crossed the finish line after 21:16,339 (best lap: 1:49,025 in lap 1).
Salvatore De Plano (r.) and Mahaveer Raghunathan (l.) on track during race 1 in Brno 2017.
Armando Mangini (MM International Motorsports, 21:18,737), Walter Steding (Inter Europol Competition, 21:32,689), Christian Eicke (Speed Center, 21:33,327) and Henk De Boer (De Boer Manx, 22:04,282) followed on positions 4 to 7 of season race 11.
In total five cars dropped out of grid and race. Besides Schnitzenbaumer Karl-Heinz Becker (Becker Motorsport) returned to the box in lap 5 due to technical issues. Technical issues as well stopped local hero Veronika Cicha (H&A Racing) one lap later. Peter Göllner and Andreas Fiedler (H&A Racing) dropped out due to technical issues in lap 7. Since BOSS GP rules require a completion of 75% of the laps of the race winner, none of the dropped out drivers drove the necessary eight laps for classification. Nevertheless drivers look forward to Sunday’s race (start: 12:10 p.m.), to hunt for championship points again.
The overall results of race 1 of FORMULA class at “Masaryk Racing Days” in Brno 2017:
| Position | No. | Name | Nat. | Team | Car | Total time | Fastest lap (min) | In | Gap (s) | Laps | km/h |
| 1 | 444 | Johann Ledermair | AUT | Ledermair Motorsport | Dallara GP2 | 20:59,913 | 1:45,709 | 2 | 11 | 184,003 | |
| 2 | 999 | Salvatore De Plano | ITA | MM International Motorsport | Dallara GP2 | 21:15,262 | 1:48,308 | 3 | 15,349 | 11 | 179,588 |
| 3 | 115 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | IND | PS Racing by Coloni Motorsport | Dallara Lola | 21:16,339 | 1:49,025 | 1 | 16,426 | 11 | 178,407 |
| 4 | 323 | Armando Mangini | ITA | MM International Motorsport | Dallara GP2 | 21:18,737 | 1:50,404 | 9 | 18,824 | 11 | 176,178 |
| 5 | 505 | Walter Steding | GER | Inter Europol Competition | Dallara GP2 | 21:32,689 | 1:53,087 | 10 | 32,776 | 11 | 171,999 |
| 6 | 555 | Christian Eicke | SUI | Speed Center | Dallara GP2 | 21:33,327 | 1:53,325 | 10 | 33,414 | 11 | 171,637 |
| 7 | 136 | Henk de Boer | NED | De Boer Manx | Dallara GP2 | 22:04,282 | 1:53,155 | 1 | 1:04,369 | 11 | 171,895 |
| 8 | 321 | Andreas Fiedler | GER | H&A Racing | Dallara GP2 | 13:53,190 | 1:49,748 | 3 | 4 | 177,231 | |
| 9 | 101 | Peter Göllner | SUI | Speed Center | Dallara GP2 | 21:05,640 | 1:51,976 | 2 | 4 | 173,705 | |
| 10 | 222 | Veronika Cicha | CZ | H&A Racing Team | Dallara GP2 | 12:29,943 | 1:56,092 | 2 | 5 | 167,546 | |
| 11 | 411 | Karl-Heinz Becker | GER | Becker Motorsport | World Series by Nissan | 9:53,378 | 1:52,501 | 3 | 6 | 172,894 | |
| 12 | 888 | Florian Schnitzenbaumer | GER | Top Speed | Dallara GP2 |
Results race 1 Brno 2017, FORMULA class.
So in total it’s the trio of Raghunathan (233 points in total), Ledermair (222) and De Plano (221), who lead the FORMULA field of the BOSS GP after season race 11. It can be assumed, that Ledermair will show strong attack on season race 12 this Sunday, to fight back for the Top 1 position of his class in total.
MORE:
Picture gallery of Brno 2017: bossgp.com/gallery/brno-masaryk-racing-days-2/
Timetable Brno 2017: bossgp.com/timetable-for-the-masaryk-racing-days-in-brno-cz/
FORMULA class: Qualifying Brno 2017: bossgp.com/formula-class-ledermair-is-fastest-at-qualifying/
FORMULA class: Second free practice in Brno 2017: bossgp.com/formula-class-early-finish-for-ledermair-and-fiedler-de-plano-showing-speed-at-second-free-practice/
FORMULA class: First free practice in Brno 2017: bossgp.com/formula-class-raghunathan-shows-fastest-lap-during-first-free-practice/
FORMULA class: Start list at “Masaryk Racing Days” in Brno 2017: bossgp.com/formula-class-start-list-for-the-masaryk-racing-days-in-brno-cz-is-set/
Standings of season 2017: bossgp.com/standings
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09/09/2017