Tag: Marco Ghiotto

Report: Qualifying Mugello

Posted on October 15, 2022 by - General

Pole position for Ingo Gerstl at the “Forza Fanatec” in Mugello. Ghiotto holds his own against FORMULA leader Colombo and Andreas Hasler is fastest in the SUPER LIGHTS.

Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) confirmed his role as favourite with the best time in qualifying. With a lap time of 1:26.747, the driver of a Toro Rosso STR1 secured pole position for the two race rounds in Mugello. Gerstl will be followed at the start by OPEN driver Harald Schlegelmilch (LVA, HS Engineering) in the World Series car with 4.5 litres capacity (instead of 3.5). Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) will start from row 2. Jackermeier is competing for the first time in a Formula 1 car at Mugello and is doing excellently so far. Will he be able to step up a gear in the race and follow Gerstl?

Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) secured the best starting position in the highly competitive FORMULA classification. The two-time BOSS GP champion started in qualifying section 2 after a cautious Friday practice run and it took him a few laps to get past team-mate Francesco Malavasi (ITA) on the timings and then championship leader Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International). With a fantastic time of 1:35.035, Ghiotto qualified almost nine tenths of a second ahead of Colombo, who lost time especially in the first sector. Filling the starting row behind are BOSS GP rookie Francesco Malavasi and Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International), who is a candidate for the podium with a good qualifying performance on one of his favourite tracks. Team-mate Salvatore de Plano (ITA) follows behind.

With Joey Foster (GBR, HS Engineering) withdrawing from the event, the only World Series by Renault 3.5-litre pilot Paul O’Connell qualified sixth in class. Best from the Zig-Zag squad was Nicolas Matile (MCO) in the Auto GP Lola in eighth in class, just ahead of teammate Jean Christophe Peyre (FRA). Team leader Marc Faggionato (MCO) was unable to take part in practice after spinning and will therefore have a race to catch up.

In the SUPER LIGHTS category, rookie Alexander Geier (AUT, Geier Racing) only familiarised himself with the track today after still being in school yesterday. Geier’s Tatuus World Series V6, however, remained in the pits with gearbox problems, so Andreas Hasler (AUT, Hasler Motorsport) will start the races as the best-placed SUPER LIGHTS competitor. Walter Colacino (ITA, Colacino Motorsport) qualified his Formula 3000 in 15th place overall.

The first race starts today, Saturday, at 15:05 local time and is over a distance of 20 minutes, the second race over 25 minutes is scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, at 13:15. In order to keep the workload on the Formula 1 cars low, the BOSS GP F1 Class will see the chequered flag after 15 minutes.

Photo: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP

Report Race 2 Monza

Posted on October 3, 2021 by - General

Grande Finale in Monza. The fastest race series in Europe more than lived up to its name, under the most difficult conditions Ulf Ehninger was crowned the new champion of the BOSS GP Racing Series.

Already in the morning, the royal park of Monza presented itself grey in grey. Thomas Hummer, the man in charge of Pirelli for BOSS GP, was also looking at the sky: “It’s really difficult, if it stays like this I would take the slicks.” Shortly before the start, the rain became heavier. Most of the drivers opted for the rain tyres.

Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) did not let himself be ruffled, and in the manner of a Zen master, the Benetton driver brought his first OPEN title home. “I didn’t take any risks, changed gears early and stayed out of everything. I can’t believe it, I never expected something like this,” Ehninger could hardly believe his achievement. For Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) it was a mixed weekend. “I want to congratulate Ulf, he was always on point and deserved the title,” the old champion paid tribute to the new one.

The day’s win went to Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) again. This time, however, the FORMULA driver had to fight much harder than on the previous day: “I started on rain tyres, in the safety car period I changed to slicks. Thanks go to my mechanics.” With the fresh rubbers, the Italian was able to catch up with the long-time leader Paul O’Connell (IRL, HS Engineering), who himself took the lead with a remarkable manoeuvre in the first Lesmo bend, and overtook him shortly before the end. O’Connell was nevertheless very pleased. “I played poker, we often have conditions like this on the island, I risked the slicks, it paid off in the end,” the likeable Irishman revealed.

FORMULA podium race 2: f.l. Paul O’Connell (2nd), winner Marco Ghiotto and Thomas Jackermeier (3rd)

Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) also made it onto the podium for the first time. The rookie showed an excellent performance and was suddenly in the lead due to various tyre changes of the competitors. “On Friday I drove the Toro Rosso with which Sebastian Vettel won here for the first time, now I’m on the same podium, even in the rain. That’s really mega,” the Fanatec CEO was completely beside himself.

In the first half of the race, Michael Aberer (AUT, MA Motorsport) was one of the fastest. The rain specialist was able to make use of his experience on the slippery terrain and was soon to be found in the leading field. In the end, switching to dry tyres would probably have been the better choice, so only eighth place remained.

Series coordinator Willie Beck was also suitably satisfied after the GlobeAir Grande Finale: “We’ve seen a fantastic season without any accidents, as a BOSS GP family we’ve grown together even more this year, which gives us confidence for the new season.”

Photos: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP, Robert Lösch