Stratford defeats Gerstl for the second time in 2019. Marco Ghiotto triumphs in the FORMULA.
Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) is beaten again: Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom) wins for the second time after Spielberg and continues his race to catch up in the OPEN championship. At the restart after the first Full Course Yellow, Stratford reacted faster than Gerstl to the clearance and surprised the serial winner. Although Gerstl tried again and again to get by on the straights, but Startford remained calm and mistake-free. It was Stratford’s fourth career success in the BOSS GP.
“I did that for my team. They were working on the gearbox almost the whole night, just that I could drive today. With the victory I can give Mansell Motorsport and the Judd crew something back.”
Third in the OPEN class was “Piter” (FRA, Ray-Ban) as at Hockenheim. He celebrated his third podium finish.
The pilots of the FORMULA category delivered once again a sensational race. Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) defended his lead from start to finish, but two Full Course Yellows let his lead melt away again and again. But Ghiotto withstood the pressure and won like last year at the Eni Circuit Monza. For him and his team, Scuderia Palladio, success at homeland is definitely something very special.
Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) experienced the spirit of the BOSS GP: Yesterday he noticed damage to his rear wing after free practice. Understandably, he didn’t want to take the risk of a failure on the high-speed track in Monza, so a change was the only solution. But Fiedler didn’t have a spare wing, so Scuderia Palladio gave him a rear wing and made it possible for Fiedler to start.
It was even nicer that Fiedler, who started from last place, was able to stand next to Ghiotto on the podium. Fiedler beats Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) and Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA, Speed Center) in a fight that lasted several laps.
Martucci had a fantastic start from the fifth row and was also able to run the lap times of the top group in the race. 3rd place is his best result this year. Also, Le Mans starter Haezebrouck was on a podium spot for a long time, in the end he had to cope with position 4 in class in his first race for Speed Center.
Like Martucci and Haezebrouck, Walter Steding was one of the winners of the starting phase. Behind Gianluca Ripoli (ITA, MM International) he finished sixth in his class, just ahead of permanent competitor Thomas Jakoubek (AUT, Top Speed).
Sergio Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) was ranked tenth. At the pre-start his car stopped, so he had to tackle the race in last position. After a phenomenal race to catch up he was in the middle of the fight for the podium in the final phase. But a spin in the duel with Fiedler unfortunately ruined his race one lap before the end.
Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Top Speed) and Alessandro Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center) have fewer good memories of the opening stage of the race. De Plano caught Bracalente in the braking zone to curve 1 and turns him around. For de Plano the race was over, Bracalente was able to continue. Later in the race he retired just like his teammates Peter Göllner (SUI) and Christian Eicke (SUI).
Warm-up start tomorrow at 10:35, BOSS GP race 2 at 14:35.
