Tag: MM International

Weekend for speed freaks: BOSS GP in Monza

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Keke Platzer - General

Speed is not only a term here, but it can be felt – so is the danger. In the Royal Park of Monza, the BOSS GP is once again making a stop this weekend, in the best weather and with excellent food.

Third stop: through the park
The Big Open Single Seaters are coming after Hockenheim and Spielberg on another traditional race track: the Monza Eni Circuit, as the track has recently been called, was an uninterrupted part of the BOSS GP Series from 2011 to 2016. This year the track is back as headliner of the Peroni Race Weekend.

Autodromo Nazionale Monza: Temple of Speed
The 5.793-kilometre circuit in the Royal Park of Monza is one of the most impressive racing facilities in the world. It is one of the last high-speed tracks in the world and one of the most challenging tracks in Europe for drivers.

Located just 15 minutes by car northeast of Milan, it is located in the metropolitan area of Italy’s second largest city. Many drivers and fans combine their visit with an excursion to the city centre and to nearby Lake Garda.

The 688 hectare park (twice as large as Central Park in New York, by the way) has been the home of the Autodromo since 1922. After Brooklands and Indianapolis, the circuit was the only third permanent racetrack in history built specifically for motorsport. The steep curves of those days still exist today and are a popular visitor point.

Hans Laub in his 1996 Forti will start again in this year’s edition of the Monza race

Participants: BOSS GP
The unchallenged OPEN class leader Ingo Gerstl (Top Speed) will face competition from Rinus van Kalmthout. The 17-year-old Dutchman contests the Indy Lights series in the USA. In the Dallara-GP2, equipped with a Judd engine (8 cylinders, 4 litres displacement), he wants to collect more kilometers in a powerful racing car in Monza. Already last year he showed extraordinary performances. Wolfgang Jaksch will also be back. The German didn’t get his Super Aguri running at Hockenheim, but now everything is supposed to work for Monza. At the last second Hans Laub also announced a Formula 1 car for the OPEN. With the Forti FG 03 the German has a rare racer from 1996 under his butt.

Start-No.	Name	Team	Nat.	Car
1	Ingo Gerstl	Top Speed	AUT	Toro Rosso STR1
7	Phil Stratford	Penn Elcom Racing	USA	Benetton B197
11	Rinus van Kalmthout	Mansell Motorsport	NED	Dallara GP2 Judd
22	Hans Laub	Speed Center	DEU	Forti FG 03
26	Wolfgang Jaksch	F Xtreme Racing Team	DEU	Super Aguri 06

12 starters are registered in the FORMULA class, among them some returners: Wolfgang Jordan and the two Italians David Moretti and Marco Ghiotto. For FORMULA leader Florian Schnitzenbaumer, Andreas Fiedler could be the most dangerous in the absence of Bianca Steiner, Johann Ledermair and Salvatore De Plano. Armando Mangini is the third Italian to compete in the home race.

Start-No.	Name	Team	Nat.	Car
100	Thomas Jakoubek	Top Speed	AUT	Dallara GP2
105	Wolfgang Jordan	H&A Racing	DEU	Dallara GP2
111	“Piter”	Ray-Ban	FRA	Dallara WSbR
150	David Moretti	Griffith’s	ITA	Dallara GP2
210	Marco Ghiotto	Ghiotto	ITA	Dallara GP2
222	Veronica Cicha	H&A Racing	CZE	Dallara GP2
321	Andreas Fiedler	Fiedler Racing	DEU	Dallara GP2
323	Armando Mangini	MM International	ITA	Dallara GP2
411	Karl-Heinz Becker	Becker Motorsport	DEU	Dallara WsbN
505	Walter Steding	Inter Europol Competition	DEU	Dallara GP2
555	Christian Eicke	Speed Center	SUI	Dallara GP2
888	Florian Schnitzenbaumer	Top Speed	DEU	Dallara GP2

Monza is not only interesting because of the Autodromo

Timetable: BOSS GP at Peroni Race Festival

Friday, 29 July 2018

10:40–11:10: Free Practice 1
16:15–16:45: Free Practice 2

Saturday, 30 June 2018

10:35–11:05: Qualifying
16:40–17:00: Race 1

Sunday, 1 July 2018

11:30–11:55: Race 2

Free entry and open paddock
Peroni has become the very heart of Italian motorsport. The bustling organisers of the Gruppo Peroni Race thus also attract a large number of spectators to the race track. Free admission during the three days of racing in Monza is a special offer. You can visit the paddock to get a rare insight into the work of the teams. There is a free choice of seats in the stands. If teams grant access, the boxes may also be viewed. The BOSS GP teams are in the garages with numbers 51 to 60, Andreas Fiedler (Dallara-GP2) pitched his tent in the paddock again, at the same level as the other BOSS GP teams in the paddock. Parking for motorcycles costs 5 Euro, for cars 10 Euro. Access is Viale Vedano 5 in Monza.

Other racing series on this race weekend are the German sports car series DMV GTC, the Northern European Formula Renault 2.0 and the Renault Clio Cup Italy. Historic cars compete in the Campionato Italiano Auto Storiche, the Alfa Revival Cup and the FIA Lurani Trophy for Formula Junior cars. All in all, a mix of jewellery from the recent and older motorsport past worth seeing.

Report: Race 2 Hockenheim

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Keke Platzer - General

At almost 30 degrees Celsius hot duels at the Hockenheimring were obligatory: Gerstl wins the OPEN class confidently, Schnitzenbaumer the FORMULA class.

The chronology of the race:

Preliminary start: 13 drivers and two female drivers entered the second race of the weekend, which demanded everything from both the drivers and the Pirelli tyres. The Austrian Thomas Jakoubek (Top Speed) did not participate like yesterday, Salvatore de Plano had to stay in hospital overnight after his crash in race one. The Italian had injured his back, but is on the road to recovery. Bernd Herndlhofer (H&A) and Wolfgang Jaksch (F Xtreme Racing Team) had already retired before qualifying, so there were only two starters left in the top class.

Start: From the start Ingo Gerstl set the pace. 1:25.5 min at the beginning of the race proved that there is nothing to win here for Phil Stratford in his Benetton. Gerstl said after the race: “I wanted to show at the beginning what I could do.” They stayed within a six-second margin for the whole race, at the end Gerstl crossed the finish line three seconds ahead. Stratford was pleased with Gerstl’s pace: “I’m happy to follow and feel the air turbulences, the aerodynamics, when I can drive so close to Ingo’s Toro Rosso”.

Lap 1: John Reaks had to brake across the grass, but the Briton could continue and finish last, four laps behind the leaders.

Florian Schnitzenbaumer (Top Speed), yesterday’s FORMULA winner, had less work today. His equal opponent de Plano was missing, so the German set the pace in the smaller class. Armando Mangini was able to keep up with Schnitzenbaumer’s speed for a while, driving 1:21 times – the Italian did not have the consistency of the German, even though Schnitzenbaumer’s shoulder hurt: “In the middle of the race I felt uncomfortable due an old operation”.

Manfred Loach wanted to bring a good result home today after retiring early yesterday due to an increased oil temperature. After a bad start the Austrian fought his way forward place by place.

Lap 2: “Piter” in the white Dallara from the World Series had to fight with the same difficulties as yesterday. Twice he stopped after the slowest part of the course, accelerating out of the hairpin – twice he was able to continue. But after four laps he drove into the pits.

The man of the race was German Andreas Fiedler in GP2, who started from 10th place and passed FORMULA driver Bianca Steiner, who had previously finished third, who was targeting on a podium as she did yesterday. A self-error led to a spin in the first race, today she made no mistakes and finished 4th in the FORMULA. “We had too much tyre pressure. At the end of the race I come closer again on Andreas. One more lap, maybe then …” Fiedler thus reached his first podium. The German with the GP2-Dallara machine became third FORMULA driver behind Schnitzenbaumer and Mangini.

Lap 6: Veronika Cicha got stuck in fourth gear, on the approach to the hairpin with almost 200 km/h. She touched the tyre bundles with her nose, but was not injured.

Lap 7: Shortly afterwards Peter Göllner parked his car in turn 2-3. The marshals worked quickly, so the safety car was able to stay in the pits today.

Last lap: Loach bets 8th in the fight to attack Walter Steding (Inter Europol Competition) and spun. It was the last retirement of the race. Karl-Heinz Becker finished seventh and the almost 75-year-old achieved a sensational result.

The results of the second race of BOSS GP 2018:

OPEN

Gerstl
Stratford

FORMULA

Schnitzenbaumer
Mangini
Fiedler
Steiner
Becker
Steding
Eicke
Kindler
Loach
Reaks

Report: Free Practice 1 Hockenheim

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Keke Platzer - General

Salvatore de Plano war schnellster FORMULA-Fahrer

Ingo Gerstl (Top Speed) set the best time in his Toro Rosso STR1, Salvatore de Plano (MM International) in his GP2 was the fastest FORMULA driver.

25 minutes of practice were on the schedule, but some red-flag interruptions shortened the driving time in the first free practice session. Due to the tight schedule, the clock continues to tick even during a red flag.

Salvatore de Plano sets the first time under 1 minute 30 seconds. In the end the Italian from MM International was second fastest behind Gerstl, and with 1:29.158 the fastest FORMULA pilot. “One second faster is possible”, last year’s runner-up said after the first practice session.
Phil Stratfords Benetton B197 stranded in the middle of the session in the hairpin bend, the mechanics suspect problems with the battery. Previously, he had finished second in the FORMULA classification.
H&A Racing and F Xtreme Racing are very busy: Both Wolfgang Jaksch‘s Super Aguri and Bernd Herndlhofer‘s Arrows had to visit the pit after only a few laps due to technical difficulties. Veronika Cicha was the only one in the team who could do a normal training – but she complained about the used tyres.
At Top Speed all eyes are on the three rookies: Manfred Loach completed fewer laps than planned, the red flags also stopped him – the Austrian could continue after a spin.
Bianca Steiner came through the training without a spin, she came 5th in the FORMULA class and is considered an insider tip for the races.
Debutant Thomas Jakoubek spun in his first lap at the Motodrom, at the end of the penultimate corner. After the engine stalled, the Austrian had to get out and the car was towed away.
The Swiss Peter Göllner (Speed Center) spun just after tipping the throttle in the hairpin bend and his GP2-Dallara also had to be towed away. Three minutes before the end, the session was released again after the second interruption.
The fastest driver of the morning session was Ingo Gerstl (Top Speed) with 1:22.122 min. His newly revised V10 engine was only tried for the first time yesterday on the race track.