Tag: Report

Report: Qualifying Monza

Posted on June 15, 2019 by - General

The fastest BOSS GP qualifying of the year in review.

Third pole position in the third BOSS GP event 2019 for Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed). In the V10 Toro Rosso STR1 Gerstl was again the fastest pilot in qualifying. This means he sets the pace for the start of the first of two races at 4 p.m. this afternoon.

Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom) will line up next to him once again. In the Benetton B197 he was able to improve by two seconds compared to qualifying 2018 – this opens the chase for permanent rival Gerstl.

Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) confirmed his performance of Friday: With 1:36.169 he drove the fastest lap time of all Formula 2 drivers. Teammate and cousin Sergio Ghiotto starts the race from 5th place as third best FORMULA driver.

In between will be Alessandro Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center), who was the only one in the turbulent Qualifying 2 to make it into the top 5. Later in qualifying the FORMULA leader had an accident. At the end of the second chicane he spun to the inside and into the barriers. For the race driver and car should be made ready again.

The Italian dominance at their home race in the FORMULA class is underlined by Armando Mangini (grid position 6), Salvatore de Plano (grid position 7) and Gianluca Ripoli (grid position 8). First non-Italian in the FORMULA category is Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA, Speed Center). The Frenchman continues the good pace of Hockenheim and Spielberg in his first race with the new team.

Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) starts in tenth. Walter Steding qualified as eleventh despite a spin into the gravel bed. Christian Eicke (SUI, Speed Center) was able to participate today after his accident in the first free practice and thanked his team with rank 12. Thomas Jakoubek (AUT, Top Speed) will start from 13, OPEN driver “Piter” (FRA, Ray-Ban) in the only World Series car from 14.

Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) had to miss qualifying, because his rear wing broke yesterday. He hopes to find a spare wing before today’s first race, otherwise he must skip another race.

Race 1 starts today at 4 p.m. – with best weather and free entry.

Report: Free Practice Monza

Posted on June 14, 2019 by - General

Sergio Ghiotto, Dallara GP2

Friday in Monza: Getting used to the high-speed track in the Royal Park.

Speeds beyond 300 kph demand man and machine. It’s good that on Friday there were two 30-minute practice sessions for the BOSS GP drivers.

The fastest man in this high-speed challenge was Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed). The reigning OPEN champion set his fastest time (1:29.929) in the second free practice session in the afternoon. With similar good conditions tomorrow another big improvement in lap time is possible for Gerstl in his Toro Rosso STR1.

Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom) finished with the second-fastest time of the day in the Benetton B197, by far behind Gerstl but in front of the Formula 2 cars. He will probably be the only driver who can challenge Gerstl this weekend.

Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) was third fastest in both practice sessions. Last year’s winner at Monza is the hottest candidate for FORMULA victory.

Five other Italians managed to set a lap time of 1 minute 39 seconds: Luca Martucci (MM International), Sergio Ghiotto (Scuderia Palladio), Armando Mangini (MM International), Salvatore de Plano (Top Speed), Alessandro Bracalente (Speed Center) will also be playing a big role in tomorrow’s fight for pole position. Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) failed close to manage a 1:39 lap. In practice 2 Fiedler was involved in an incident with De Plano, Peter Göllner (SUI, Speed Center) and Martucci, both Fiedler and Martucci had an early end to the session.

Christian Eicke (SUI, Speed Center) set a great time in the first practice session. With a flattened rear wing and therefore little drag, he managed the second fastest time in sectors 1 and 3, beaten only by Ingo Gerstl’s Formula 1. However, Eicke had an accident only a little later at the end of the Ascari variant. But he will be able to participate again in the fight for pole position on Saturday.

16 starters will take part in qualifying tomorrow at 9:45 am. Today’s top 5 start in Q1 (8 minutes), the remaining drivers in Q2 (20 minutes). The fastest driver from the two combined sessions will be the first to start the 25-minute race at 16:00, the fifth in this BOSS GP anniversary season 2019.

Report: Race 2 Spielberg

Posted on May 25, 2019 by - General

A dramatic race at the end of the Pirelli Masters 2019. Gerstl and Bracalente as lucky winners.

Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) had to start from last place like yesterday. However, this did not stop the Austrian from winning his home race in the Toro Rosso STR1 ten-cylinder beast.

Gerstl continuously pushed forwards and passed the naturally slower Formula 2 cars without much risk. In lap 12, he overtook OPEN rival Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom) in the Benetton for second place, one lap later he passed race one winner Alessandro Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center), who had been in the lead up to then.

Start for race two in the rain

Just before the start it started to rain. All drivers changed to Pirelli Cinturato rain tyres. In the middle of the race the rain shower stopped, and it began to dry up on the racing line. At that time Rookie Bracalente lost his lead, one lap later after Gerstl he had to let pass Stratford too.

Behind Gerstl and Stratford, the fight for victory in the FORMULA class began: Bracalente had to defend against Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) repeatedly. Four racing cars now fought for overall victory – Gerstl, Stratford, Bracalente and Ghiotto. On several occasions Ghiotto tried to get past Bracalente, but it took him the very last lap to make it.

Gerstl crossed the finish line just 0.4 seconds in front of Stratford. Behind them Ghiotto defended the class lead, but only up to 200 metres before the finish. In the last corner he spun on the slippery track and Bracalente slipped through again – this race couldn’t have ended much more dramatically.

FORMULA podium: f.l. Marco Ghiotto, Alessandro Bracalente and Florian Schnitzenbaumer

Florian Schnitzenbaumer (DEU, Top Speed), who crossed the finish line behind Bracalente and Marco Ghiotto, also finished on the FORMULA podium today. The reigning FORMULA champion and Armando Mangini (ITA, MM International) fought a duel worth seeing, which was finally decided by a mistake of Mangini in turn 1. Schnitzenbaumer did complain about his own aggressiveness, but with today’s performance he can finally take home a trophy after his retirement yesterday.

Sergio Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) finished fifth in class, Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA, Inter Europol) confirmed the performance of the previous day with 6th place in FORMULA. Thomas Jakoubek (AUT, Top Speed) and Christian Eicke (SUI, Speed Center) duelled for 7th place for a long time, with a better end for Jakoubek.

Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing) experienced a weekend to forget. The double winner from Hockenheim could not even start on the first race day, in the second race he retired after six laps. Race 5 and race 6 of the BOSS GP 2019 will follow in three weeks in the Royal Park of Monza. From June 14th to 16th, the BOSS GP will contest the Competizione BOSS GP on the fastest racetrack on the calendar.

Top 3 points standings:
OPEN class: Ingo Gerstl (75 points), Phil Stratford (47), “Piter” (44)
FORMULA class: Alessandro Bracalente (92), Marco Ghiotto (80), Armando Mangini (54)

Race 5 and race 6 of the BOSS GP 2019 will follow in three weeks in the Royal Park of Monza. From June 14th to 16th, the BOSS GP will contest the Competizione BOSS GP on the fastest racetrack on the calendar.

Report: Race 1 Spielberg

Posted on May 24, 2019 by - General

Debut victory for Alessandro Bracalente at the Pirelli Masters.

Alessandro Bracalente (ITA, Speed Center) is the glowing winner of the first of two races this weekend. The rookie wins a BOSS Grand Prix for the first time at only his third start. The 30-year-old was on his unbeatable way right from the start. As the first pursuer of the long-time leader Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom) he took the lead when Stratford slowed down with gearbox problems.

Stratford finished fifth overall and won the OPEN class. Ulf Ehninger (DEU, ESBA Racing) was allowed on the OPEN podium for the very first time. For Ehninger it was the first BOSS GP race. With an overall 9th place he was right in the middle of the action and visibly happy about his success. So it was a double victory for the 1997 Benetton’s.

First BOSS GP win for Alessandro Bracalente

OPEN championship leader Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) started a brilliant race to catch up from last place. But even the fastest race lap didn’t help at the end: After eight laps and just when Gerstl catched leader Stratford, his race ended with a technical problem.

Back to FORMULA: Sergio Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) finished second, Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) third. Remarkable: With Bracalente, Ghiotto and Martucci were three Italians on the podium.

Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) finished fourth, even though Marco was involved in a collision with Florian Schnitzenbaumer (DEU, Top Speed) at the start. Schnitzenbaumer had to retire just at the scene of the accident.

Podium ceremony with the world class musicians Robby Musenbichler and Willi Langer

Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA, Inter Europol) was fifth in his class and thus delivered his best performance of the season. Behind him a duel between Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Top Speed) and Gianluca Ripoli (ITA, MM International) was raging for a long time. De Plano beat Ripoli in the end.

Peter Göllner (SUI, Speed Center) finished eighth in the FORMULA. The Swiss started from the penultimate row and made up many places with clever manoeuvres, especially in the early stage of the race. Thomas Jakoubek (AUT, Top Speed) overtook Walter Steding (DEU, Inter Europol) in the last lap, who was in the top-10 for a long time.

Unfortunately, fifth place on the grid remained empty, Andreas Fiedler could not even start the race.

Tomorrow will be the fourth BOSS GP race of the season, starting time is 15:45. Before that there will be a ten-minute warm-up at 10 am.

Gerstl and Ledermair take the victories home in race 2

Posted on April 23, 2017 by - General

Podium of race 2 of the OPEN class in Hockenheim.

After a very crazy 2017 kick off race in Hockenheim on Saturday (22/04/2017), things worked out considerably better for the second race at the Hockenheimring on Sunday.

Eleven drivers made it to the starting grid of the race. Unfortunately five drivers had to cancel the race, mainly resulting from technical reasons or crashes. So there was no way to race for Klaas Zwart (Team Ascari) after his crash in Saturday’s race. A fact, as well drivers as fans regretted a lot: “I missed Klaas a lot on track. He is always one of my strongest competitors, so racing with and against him is much more fun”, Ingo Gerstl (TOP Speed) said.

While weather conditions were way better than on Saturday, which led to a crazy race, there was a smooth raceday on Sunday for BOSS GP without any crashes and no time under yellow flags or with safety car. First six spots of the grid where dominantly taken by Gerstl, Johann Ledermair (Ledermair Motorsport), Phil Stratford (Penn Elcom Racing), Florian Schnitzenbaumer (TOP Speed), Wolfgang Jaksch (F-Xtreme Racing Team) and Mahaveer Raghunathan (Coloni Motorsport) for all 18 laps. These drivers finally made it onto the podiums of the OPEN and the FORMULA class.

While Gerstl again raced a start-finish victory and lead the grid during the overall race time of 25 minutes, he secured his second P1 of the season and is leading the OPEN class ranking list by the maximum of 50 points. Phil Stratford showed a great performance like on Saturday’s race again and took it to P2, followed by Wolfgang Jaksch with his first podium ever in BOSS GP. Stratford and Jaksch take according positions in the ranking list of the OPEN class as well.

Podium of the FORMULA class of race 2 in Hockenheim.

Podium of the FORMULA class of race 2 in Hockenheim.

After P2 in first season race on Saturday Johann Ledermair took it to P1 of the FORMULA class in Sundays race and showed a quite bigger smile at the podium ceremony than on the day before, when he wasn’t that happy with P2. “The race worked out well for us. We still need more time and races to get more familiar with the new tyres by Pirelli”, the 25 years old Austrian explained. Schnitzenbaumer on P2 and, as in race 1, Raghunathan on P3 completed the podium. After the first two races of the season Johann Ledermair is now leading the overall ranking list in the FORMULA class with 47 points, followed by Mahaveer Raghunathan (Coloni Motorsport) and Florian Schnitzenbaumer (Top Speed), both with 40 points.

More informations about race 2 of BOSS GP season 2017 is to come.

So long find the detailed result of the race here: Hockenheim 2017: Results of race 2.

Weather turbulences crashes first race in Hockenheim *UPDATE* (23.04.17)

Posted on April 22, 2017 by - General

First race of the season 2017 on Hockenheimring.

Oh what a crazy kick off race for the season 2017 this was. With one hour delay in the ambitious scheduled programme of the “Hockenheim Historic” the drivers raced onto the track for the first podium spots of the season. The grid had quite a compact number at this point: Only eigth drivers finally started in the first BOSS GP Championship race of the season, which was overshadowed by freaky weather conditions.

Rain? No rain? Finally it was a decision just by seconds – rain tyres or no rain tyres? Exactly when the BOSS GP grid starts in their warm-up lap for the race all of a sudden rain started out of the thick blanket of clouds for the first time of the day. As a consequence couple of cars dropped out of the race already before the start. Including Wolfgang Jaksch (F-Xtreme, OPEN class) with the Super Aguri, whose car-rescue took quite an amount of time of 15 minutes. Due to permanent delays of the programme-schedule the race management decided, to cut the official race time down from 20 to 12 minutes for the eight drivers left at the grid after the troubled race-intro. When the engines were started, the next safecty car period was just a question of seconds: Already in the first turn (“Ravenol-Kurve”) Klaas Zwart (Team Ascari, OPEN class), one of the favourites for the first podium spots of the season, was out of the race after a crash into the barriers.

Starting grid at Hockenheims first race 2017.

Starting grid at Hockenheims first race 2017.

 

When the safety car had left the circuit, the biggest point were the driving capabilities of the drivers during the challenging weather conditions. “After turbulences and exits of a couple of cars already in the beginning of the race, my only goal was, to finish the race without any damage”, explained Andreas Fiedler (Fiedler Racing, FORMULA class). The newcomer not only rolled up the field from behind in his very first race ever at BOSS GP, he also raced the best lap time (1:39.941 min) and secured P1 at the FORMULA class in front of Johann Ledermair (Ledermair Motorsport) on P2 and Mahaveer Raghunathan (Coloni Motorsport) on P3.

Safety car on track at Hockenheimring.

BOSS GP safety car on track at Hockenheimring.

 

The OPEN class was dominated by Ingo Gerstl (TOP Speed) with a start-finish victory, which put the Austrian as the overall winner of the race and meant P1 at the OPEN class podium. He was followed by Phil Stratford (Penn Elcom Racing) on P2. Since Gerstl and Stratford were the only OPEN class driver left in the grid, there finally was no P3 in the first race of the season.

Accordingly Ingo Gerstls reaction after the race: “That was a disastrous race! It started dribbling, when we left the paddock. The outdoor temperatures were way too cold for the slicks. So we had to change the tyres, rain stopped, rain started again, we saw plenty of crashes. The remaining race time I was just holding to my experience and instinct, to finish the race without any trouble and keep the car on the track. Lap time didn’t really matter for me.” At the qualifying in the morning he had impressed with a fabulous time of 1:20.174 min, during the race he put his best lap to 1:40.382 min. “I saw Klaas [Zwart] next to me, hitting the wall. Finally I am really happy, that I finished. But – that was no brilliant performance, one clearly have to point that out.” For the second race on Sunday afternoon (2:15 p.m.) Gerstl is not only hoping for good weather conditions, but for “a real challenge after the disastrous first race”.

Podium of the OPEN class of first race in Hockenheim.

Podium of the OPEN class of first race in Hockenheim.

 

Meanwhile, Phil Stratford, P2 of the OPEN class, was totally happy with the podium: “Most of all I am happy, that I made the car crossing the finishing line in one piece. Today was the first time, I raced this car, even under really difficult conditions. The rain tyres gave me some confidence, but my plan was, to manage a position behind another car and take this car as an orientation for my race. Probably a better time would have been possible, but actually I had more to lose than to win. I want to thank my team, which did a brilliant job and is happy with the result of todays race quite a bit.”

Andreas Fielder was overwhelmed by his first P1 in the FORMULA class at the first race of the season: “I didn’t expect this at all. Particularly after having huge trouble at the qualifying with our setup”, he happily resumed. The BOSS GP newcomer was fine with the weather conditions: “I like driving during such weather. In the beginning of the race I held back, just wanted to finish the race without any trouble. That I made P1 finally in my very first race at BOSS GP – that’s really overwhelming and a great experience.”

Fiedler benefited from a penalty for Johann Ledermair (Ledermair Motorsport), who had led the field of the FORMULA class at practice sessions and qualifying. The 25 years old Austrian got an 10-second-time-penalty due to rule-violation, as well as Italian Salvatore de Plano (MM International Motorsport), who finished as fifth at the FORMULA class.

Podium of the FORMULA class of the first race in Hockenheim.

Podium of the FORMULA class of the first race in Hockenheim.

 

Highly ambitious for the second race on Sunday is Mahaveer Raghunatan, P3 of the FORMULA class: „I want to dedicate this podium to my grandfather, without whom I wouldn’t race here”, the 18 years old Indian says. “The potential of the race was higher than my result, if I wouldn’t have raced with Slicks but with rain tyres. But I am very happy with the podium. I will be much faster in the race on Sunday and want to win then”, the youngest driver of the grid was focusing on Sunday’s race directly after the podium ceremony.

Second race in Hockenheim is schedulded on Sunday (23/04/2017) at 2:15 p.m. Find all informations about BOSS GPs race in Hockenheim here: bossgp.com/race/hockenheim-historic-2017

 

UPDATE (23.04.2017 @ 13:50h)

Due to a rule breach by the team of Andreas Fiedler (Fiedler Racing), using a wrong tyre make in race 1, and after consultation with the Hockenheim race direction, the BOSS GP Championship board has decided to penalise Andreas Fiedler as follows:

  1. Full Championship points for P1 will be denied
  2. Start in race 2 from the last position on the grid

sg. Christian Gaense / BOSS GP Championship Coordinator

 

 

MORE:

Find the detailed result of Race 1 at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Results of Race 1.

Find the report of the qualifying at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Report of Qualifying.

See the report of second free practice at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Report of second free practice.

See the report of first free practice at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Report of first free practice.

Find all informations about “Hockenheim Historic” here www.hockenheim-historic.de and the website of Hockenheimring itself at www.hockenheimring.de.

Gerstl takes the pole position with fabulous time

Posted on April 22, 2017 by - General

Ingo Gerstl racing a fabulous time during qualifying in Hockenheim 2017.

With a fabulous lap time of 1:20.174 min Ingo Gerstl, reigning OPEN class champion of the BOSS GP series, secured the pole position for first race of the season in Hockenheim on Saturday morning. The Austrian even raced a much faster lap, but his sensational lap in 1:19.689 min was canceled by the race officials due to rule violation.

While weather conditions in Hockenheim on Saturday morning were overcast, but dry, couple of thousand spectators on the legendary Formula 1 circuit saw an fascinating qualifying for the season kick off race of BOSS GP. Klaas Zwart turned out the be the strongest competitor for Ingo Gerstl for the pole position. He secured the second position with 1:21.068 min. Johann Ledermair raced the fastest lap at the FORMULA class during the qualifying and will start from third position into the race on the afternoon.

BOSS GP on track while qualifying in Hockenheim.

BOSS GP on track while qualifying in Hockenheim.

While the best eight drivers out of the free practices on Friday went on track first for ten minutes, to race their best lap time, the remaining eight drivers were following and brought their best performance onto the track for a 20 minutes time slot.

Almost all drivers improved their lap times out of the practices on Friday significant. This is, what the start grid for the first race on Saturday afternoon after qualifying now looks like:

Starting grid of first race of BOSS GP season 2017 in Hockenheim.

Starting grid of first race of BOSS GP season 2017 in Hockenheim.

MORE:

Detailed statistics of the qualifying at Hockenheim: Hockenheim 2017: Results of qualifying.

See the report of second free practice at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Report of second free practice in Hockenheim 2017.

See the report of first free practice at Hockenheim here: Report of first free practice in Hockenheim 2017.

Find all informations about “Hockenheim Historic” here www.hockenheim-historic.de and the website of Hockenheimring itself at www.hockenheimring.de.

Good impression by returning Jaksch and newcomer Fiedler at second practice in Hockenheim

Posted on April 21, 2017 by - General

Wolfgang Jaksch (OPEN class) and Walter Steding (FORMULA class) back on track, Ingo Gerstl (OPEN class) and Johann Ledermair (FORMULA class) confirm their good shape again – that’s the result of Fridays afternoon second free practice of BOSS GP at Hockenheim Historic.

14 out of 17 drivers, nine in FORMULA class, five in OPEN class, started the free practice session and finished it as well. As in the morning session the fastest lap of the FORMULA class was driven by Johann Ledermair (Team Ledermair Motorsport), in the OPEN class Ingo Gerstl (TOP Speed) lead the field again and marked the fastest laptime of all drivers once again, even with the slight difference of +0.255 seconds to the morning session.

Wolfgang Jakschs Super Aguri, prepared for second practice in Hockenheim.

Wolfgang Jakschs Super Aguri, prepared for second practice in Hockenheim.

Ledermair and Gerstl confirm their top shape

While Johann Ledermair (Ledermair Motorsport) confirmed the first position of the FORMULA class in the second practice, BOSS GP newcomer Andreas Fiedler (Fiedler Racing) made a good impression and finished the session on third position. “I was aiming for a lap time around 1:30 minute”, he explained after the session. “So I am very happy with the result.” Finishing the second practice with the fastest lap time of 1:30.485 min Fiedler greatly improved from the first practice in the morning with a best time of 1:32.239 min. “Since BOSS GP is a new experience for me by now, the goal for the race in Hockenheim is to get a feeling for the characteristics and special features of the series. It’s great competition, great cars, great drivers. For me it’s like a dream coming true, being part of BOSS GP and racing such a great car. Years ago I dreamed of sitting in such a Formula racing car. Now I even drive such a car”, Fiedler, competing with a Dallara Mecachrome 4.0 V8, was full of joy after practice day at Hockenheim circuit.

“It’s like a dream coming true.Years ago I dreamed of sitting in such a Formula racing car. Now I even drive such a car.”
Andreas Fiedler (Fiedler Racing)

Austrian Bernd Herndlhofer (H&A Racing) missed the second practice of the day in the OPEN class, but Wolfgang Jaksch (F-Xtreme Racing Team), who missed the morning session, returned to track with his newly built Super Aguri SA06 Cosworth 3.0 V10. He made a good first impression and finished on third position with a 1:30.063 min lap best time. Meanwhile Zwart just finished four laps, but will be fully present at Qualifying on Saturday morning again.

BOSS GP Paddock in Hockenheim.

BOSS GP Paddock in Hockenheim.

 

BOSS GP raceday on Saturday (22/04/2017) starts with qualifying at 10:00 a.m.. The first race is set at the afternoon, 3:15 p.m. The second race will start on Sunday (23/04/2017) afternoon at 2:15 p.m.

More:

See detailed results of second free practice at Hockenheim here:: Hockenheim 2017: Results of second free practice.

See the report of the first free practice at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Report of first free practice.

Find all informations about “Hockenheim Historic” here www.hockenheim-historic.de and the website of Hockenheimring itself at www.hockenheimring.de.

Ledermair and Gerstl lead first free practice in Hockenheim

Posted on April 21, 2017 by - General

Ingo Gerstl at first free practice in Hockenheim 2017.

Sunshine and 11° Celsius were awaiting the start field of BOSS GP for first free practice at “Hockenheim Historic” on friday morning as well as the German Formular 1 track at the Hockenheimring and loads of motorsport enthusiasts, which cheered the drivers along the track.

Eight out of the nine drivers, who joined the free practice at the FORMULA class, found their way back across the finishing line, while at the OPEN class all five drivers finished the practice. Fastest lap of the FORMULA class was driven by Johann Ledermair (Team Ledermair Motorsport), who finished the first free practice as leader of the class. At the OPEN class reigning Champion Ingo Gerstl (TOP Speed) managed the leading spot and marked the fastest laptime of all drivers.

Couple of drivers were missing. Henk de Boer (FORMULA class, De Boer Manx) had to cancel the first race of the season due to private reasons. Walter Steding (FORMULA class, Inter Europol Competion) gave up the free practice due to technical reasons after a crash on track on Thursday as well as Wolfgang Jaksch (OPEN class, FXtreme Racing Team), who wasn’t ready yet for racing due to technical reasons as well (“We expect, that we will be on track on Saturday. Currently we still have a load of work to do.”). “We hope, that Stedings car will be ready to use on Saturday again. Actually the team is working around the clock for that goal”, explains Christian Gänse, race-coordinator of BOSS GP.

BOSS GP on Hockenheim track.

BOSS GP on Hockenheim track.

 

During practice on Friday morning Christian Eicke (FORMULA class, Speed Center) and Johann Ledermair led to turbulences. Eicke had to retire already after two laps due to technical reasons. The leading driver of the FORMULA class Ledermair, had to give up after six laps as well as a result of technical reasons, which pushed him into the gravel trap. “We took the first five laps for our coordination, which went pretty well, we made good progess. Then we used the chance, trying some stuff. That didn’t work out that well, we had some slight technical issues, which dropped me out of the race”, explains Ledermair, who is happy with the new used Pirelli tyres: “I am pleasantly surprised. We are not yet near the point, we want to be. But for the moment it feels really well.” The 25 years old native Tirolean has ambitious goals for the weekend: “I’m really happy about the results of the first free practice. Now we are fully focused on the second practice in the afternoon.”

New tyres by Pirelli are big topic for drivers

As well satisfied with the first practice session was Ingo Gerstl, leader and reigning champion of the OPEN class: “It went much better than expected. I didn’t race for a couple of months during the winter, so you have to get used to it again after such a long period of time. But everything went really well. The lap time became secondary for myself – the feeling was great, everything was fitting. That’s the most important point for now.” Despite driving the fastest lap time of the field, Gerstl knows about the strengths of his competitors. Klaas Zwart (Team Ascari) is not far behind the leader: “I can’t sleep, they will drive much faster during the next days”, says the Austrian. He is satisfied with the new tyre material as well: “I needed about two laps for warming up the tyres, but everything worked out very well. I’m really satisfied with the Pirellis.” Klaas Zwart agrees with Gerstl about the new tyres, but is aware of learning needs: “After spending years of developing tyres by Avon, the tyres by Pirelli are a new challenge for our team. We have to figure out the characteristics of the Pirellis. But actually every race is a process of learning for our team. So I am absolutely confident, that we will develop our knowledge during the next weeks and monts.” The Dutch is satisfied with his first practice result: “My team did a great job, the car was brilliant. I have to get used to new tyres. This process needs a bit of time.” Looking to his closest competitor Zwart says: “Ingo [Gerstl] set a really good lap time. Obviously he already learned much more than me and did a better job than me today. We will see, how the next days will work out.”

Klaas Zwart discussing the new Pirelli tyres.

Klaas Zwart discussing the new Pirelli tyres.

 

Second free practice is set for Friday afternoon at 3:40 p.m. Saturday morning Qualifying starts at 10:00 a.m., first race is set for the afternoon at 3:15 p.m. The second race will start on sunday afternoon at 2:15 p.m.

See plenty of details of the first free practice at Hockenheim here: Hockenheim 2017: Results of first free practice.

Find all informations about “Hockenheim Historic” here: www.hockenheim-historic.de