The heroes of the BOSS GP Racing Series blasted through the Ardennes at around 300 km/h. Fastest in today’s qualifying was once again Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed). With a time of 1:55.836, he was the only driver to stay under the two-minute mark for one lap.
Marc Faggionato (MCO, Top Speed), who will exceptionally start for Top Speed this weekend, also put in a strong performance. With a time of 2:03.888 he was four tenths faster than champion Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio). Ghiotto will start from the second row, together with fellow countryman Riccardo Ponzio (Adriatica Competition). His beautiful Jaguar R3 was repaired by the team overnight, allowing Ponzio to participate on race day.
Fastest driver in the second qualifying session (for all drivers outside the top 5 of free practice) was Roman Hoffmann (AUT, Hoffmann Racing). With this he surprisingly pushed Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) out of the top 5, with Walter Steding (DEU, MM International) and Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) following in the other places. Michael Aberer in the World Series by Renault classified ninth fastest. Ulf Ehninger in Benetton Formula 1 will start the race from tenth position.
Both races can be followed today, Sunday, in the live stream at www.bossgp.com/livestream. Race 1 starts at 12:05, race 2 at 16:05.
Double victorys for Höher and Gerstl at the season opener in Italy.
Guest starter Christopher Höher also won the FORMULA class in race 2. In a convincing manner he crossed the finish line only two seconds behind OPEN winner Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed). After finishing third in race 1, Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) was able to improve his performance by finishing second behind Höher in the FORMULA class. The defending champion is therefore second in the championship after the first race weekend and is also a contender for the title this year. After a longer period of not being on the podium, Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Coloni) was allowed to step on the podium again. With a third place at his debut in an A1GP Lola he is also a real contender in the championship.
Roman Hoffmann impressed after his retirement in the first race with the fourth place in race 2, only three tenths of a second separated him from de Plano and thus from the podium. Luca Martucci finished fifth after a drive-through penalty (wrong position at the flying start). On the following places: Nicolas Matile, Michael Aberer, Bruno Jarach and Walter Steding.
The next race for the Big Open Single Seater will take place on 1-2 August at the DTM event in Spa-Francorchamps.
Ingo Gerstl on pole, fastest FORMULA driver was Luca Martucci.
The first qualifying session this season for the BOSS GP Racing Series brought a big surprise. While Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) will once again start from pole position with the Toro Rosso STR1, the Italian Luca Martucci (MM International) will start for the very first time from row 1. At his home race, the GP2 driver brought himself into an excellent position in the battle for victory in the FORMULA class.
From row 2 the actual favourites Christopher Höher (AUT, Top Speed) and Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) will start the first of two races this weekend. Only a few tenths of a second separated the three fastest GP2 drivers from each other.
Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag) was able to fulfil high expectations by finishing fifth overall. After a messed up 2019 season, Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Coloni) can be pleased with 6th place, as this is his first time in an A1 GP Lola car. Walter Steding (DEU) also boasted an impressive performance as as he qualified in his first outing with his new team Scuderia Palladio ahead of Ulf Ehninger (DEU, ESBA Racing) in the Benetton B197 Formula 1. Roman Hoffmann (AUT, Hoffmann Racing) proved to be the fastest of the BOSS GP rookies: he finished 10th overall.
Riccardo Ponzio (ITA, Adriatica Competition) could not participate in the qualifying. The engine of his Jaguar R3 needs to be changed until tomorrow. The 20-minute race 1 starts at 11:15 and, race 2 over a distance of 25 minutes at 16:15.
Second win for Höher and Gerstl at the Masaryk Racing Days.
Christopher
Höher (AUT, Top Speed) certainly didn’t have an easy time in race 2. Although
the guest starter took the second win in FORMULA class this weekend, he only
won slightly ahead of Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio).
At the
beginning of the race Höher could follow the leading OPEN driver Ingo Gerstl
(AUT, Top Speed). Gerstl already secured his fifth championship title in the
OPEN class in the first race of the weekend. In race 2 he managed to win his
eighth race of the season in his Toro Rosso STR1.
Behind the
dominator, however, it was another exciting race in FORMULA class: Due to Höher
overstraining his tyres at the beginning of the race in pursuit of Gerstl, he
only defended himself on the literally last groove towards the end of the race.
Ghiotto tried everything – drove to the left, drove to the right – but Höher
remained ice-cold and held first position until the finish line.
Alessandro
Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center) was the closest rival to Höher in the first
stage of the race. On lap 4, however, the leader of the standings dropped
positions, one lap later he parked his car in the pits with a clutch failure. A
major setback in the championship as rival Ghiotto took 22 points with second
place. Before the championship finale Ghiotto is 15 points ahead of Bracalente.
In Imola a maximum of 50 points will be awarded.
f.l. Marco Ghiotto, OPEN winner Ingo Gerstl, FORMULA winner Christopher Höher and Luca Martucci
Despite a
spin, Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) finished third with a very strong
closing stage. It was Martucci’s fourth podium finish this season. In the fight
for the podium the decision was made after a Full Course Yellow in turn 1.
There he overtook Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) who showed a strong
pace with the fastest lap and some position wins at the start of the race.
Fiedler could score at least two points more than Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA,
Speed Center) with 4th place. In the standings, Fiedler is now back on 3rd
place, but only one point ahead of Haezebrouck. This duel also promises
excitement in the final races of the season.
During
middle of the race it looked good for Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag) too. In
the battle with Höher and Ghiotto for the front Faggionato spun by himself.
Because the engine stopped running, the second race of the weekend for the fast
Monegasque was over too.
Behind
Gianluca Ripoli (ITA, MM International) Walter Steding (DEU, Inter Europol)
finished seventh with an impeccable performance. With an outstanding
performance Peter Göllner (SUI, Speed Center) drove from the last grid position
into the top-8. Nicolas Matile (MCO, Zig-Zag) in the only Auto-GP Lola spun
shortly before the end and threw away a top result at the guest start.
Europe’s
fastest racing series will return to Imola for the finale in five weeks. The
Grande Finale of the BOSS GP 2019 will take place on October 12th and 13th.
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