Tag: Timed practice

Report: Qualifying Hockenheim

Posted on May 6, 2023 by - General

Pole position for Gerstl in the Toro Rosso STR1. FORMULA: Colombo finishes slightly ahead of Faggionato. O’Connell in front in his comeback in the SUPER LIGHTS class.

Thousands of spectators crowded into the Motodrom early in the morning. The Hockenheim Historic is expecting a record number of spectators on Saturday. The qualifying of the BOSS GP Racing Series at the Hockenheimring took place early this morning in perfect spring weather. The best grid positions for the two races were determined.

In the BOSS GP F1 Class there was no surprise: Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) took pole position for the second time this year in his 2006 Toro Rosso Formula 1, with a lap time of 1:21.140 min, just slightly behind his pole time from last year. He will be joined on the front row of the grid in both races by German Ulf Ehninger (ESBA Racing) in the Benetton B197.

19 years after his last appearance at Hockenheim, Antonio Pizzonia (BRA, HS Engineering) is back at Hockenheim. The ex-Formula 1 driver will start for the second time this weekend in HS Engineering’s modified World Series Dallara. The Brazilian will be back in the hunt for the Formula 1 cars in his OPEN class race car.

Florian Schnitzenbaumer shows strong pace at his motorsport comeback

The FORMULA class had never been so close in qualifying. The top 5 were separated by less than one and a half seconds on the fastest lap. The Italian MM International team celebrated a row one “lockout”: Simone Colombo (ITA) beat Marc Faggionato (MCO) by one tenth of a second. Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) follows in 3rd place, who has his usual more difficult time at the Hockenheimring. “Checco” Malavasi (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) and Florian Schnitzenbaumer (GER, Top Speed) also expect to have a chance of a podium finish. The latter, on his return after a break of several years, is to be found at the front of the field right away and was able to set a good lap time despite an aborted second attempt. Alexander Seibold (GER, Seibold Auto + Sport) also had a fantastic qualifying session in his first BOSS GP race in 2023. The German will start from 7th in class in an eye-catching design combination with a homage to Valentino Rossi and Jo Siffert.

In the SUPER LIGHTS, after the solo of Henry Clausnitzer (GER, WF Racing) last time in France, there is a lot going on this time. An outstanding best time was set by Paul O’Connell (IRE, HS Engineering), who is driving an older Dallara with a eight-cylinder engine this year. With a best time of 1:32.368 min he qualified in the middle of the field of GP2 cars. The two newcomers Jody Stadelmann (SUI) in a G-Force-Mugen from Japan and Stefan Eisinger-Sewald (AUT, Red Rose Racing) follow in 2nd and 3rd place on the grid.

The start times are 14:40 on Saturday and 14:05 on Sunday. Both races will be livestreamed.

Photos: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP

Report: Le Castellet Qualifying

Posted on June 18, 2022 by - General

Quickest times for Gerstl, Schlegelmilch, Chovanec-Lopez and Geier in qualifying for the French Historic Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) leads the BOSS GP F1 Class to the green light for the fifth time this season. Gerstl in the Toro Rosso STR1 took the clear pole position for the two races at the Le Castellet Grand Prix circuit with a time of 1:42.953. Next best F1 driver in qualifying was Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) in his Benetton B197. Ehninger is racing at Le Castellet for the first time and is already coping amazingly well with the demanding circuit on day two. A highlight for the French fans is the appearance of Didier Sirgue (FRA, LRS Racing) in the Jaguar R2. Sirgue qualified third in Eddie Irvine’s car from the 2001 Formula 1 season. As recently proved at the Red Bull Ring, the F1 Class will again start the race at the Grand Prix de France Historique around twenty seconds ahead of the rest of the field. This is to reduce the risks at the start of the race.

The closest to Gerstl’s best time was again Harald Schlegelmilch (LVA, HS Engineering) in his modified World Series car. Schlegelmilch is therefore the favorite to win the OPEN classification.

The leader of the FORMULA class, Zdenek Chovanec-Lopez (PRT, MM International), also set the pace in qualifying. Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International) qualified second in class, ahead of fast BOSS GP returnee Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag). Close behind was Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio), who managed to move up the results list from far behind with a spot-on lap just before the end. Francesco Malavasi (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) was able to meet the expectations after the good practice sessions on Friday and finished fifth ahead of Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International).

In the BOSS GP SUPER LIGHTS Class, Alexander Geier (AUT, Geier Racing) prevailed over his compatriot and season dominator Andreas Hasler (AUT, Hasler Motorsport). Geier thus also rewarded his team, which put a lot of working time into the Formula Renault bolide with V6 engine after a fire at Hockenheim.

The two races will start today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) at 3:30 p.m. local time. There will already be the grid walk from 2:50 p.m. The races can be followed live on the Automoto La chaîne YouTube (only in France) stream.

Picture: Jean-Marie Biadatti/PhotoClassicRacing.com

Report Qualifying Misano

Posted on June 19, 2021 by - General

Marco Ghiotto takes pole position at home race.

Two-time BOSS GP champion in the FORMULA class, Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio), secured the best grid position for both BOSS GP races this afternoon and on Sunday in a thrilling duel for pole position with Gianluca De Lorenzi (RSM, GDL Racing).

Right on time at 10:05 am local time and with an air temperature of nearly 30 degrees, the pit lights at the Misano World Circuit turned green and the engines were fired up. Andreas Fiedler (GER, Fiedler Racing) was the first to set a time in qualifying, but he quickly took a minor role in the battle for the fastest lap time. First Gianluca De Lorenzi (RSM, GDL Racing), this time in a WSbR-Dallara, blew away the best time by more than two seconds on his first lap.

But the opponents, in particular Marco Ghiotto and Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International) – all in Formula 2 cars – attacked soon. While De Lorenzi pitted after two fast laps, Ghiotto was able to take the lead with a time of 1:24.761 one minute before the end. Colombo also improved, but remained third behind De Lorenzi, with Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) setting the fourth fastest time.

In Qualifying 2, rookie Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) was surprisingly the quickest driver. He only missed Fiedler’s time from Q1 by eight thousandths. Nevertheless, Jackermeier achieved his best qualifying result so far. He starts the race in sixth place. Walter Steding (GER, Scuderia Palladio) and Christian Ferstl (AUT, Top Speed) follow from row 4.

On row 5 starts the fastest car of the new SUPER LIGHTS class: Maurizio Copetti (ITA) in the World Series by Nissan car run by Scuderia Palladio. Joining him on row five will be Bruno Jarach (EST, Eesti Motorsport). Walter Colacino (ITA, in Formula 3000) and debutant Simon Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed), who could only set one lap time in qualifying, follow on row six.

Photo: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP

Report Qualifying Mugello

Posted on April 10, 2021 by - General

A thrilling duel for pole position between Faggionato and De Lorenzi.

It had rained on Saturday morning, so qualifying was not divided into two groups as usual, rather it was open to everyone straight away. This ensured fair conditions for everyone as the track dried up. In wet conditions at the Mugello Circuit, the Pirelli Cinturato rain tyres were clearly the first choice.

First on track was Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International), who was surprisingly the fastest FORMULA driver on his BOSS GP debut yesterday. In the rain he started gently at first but improved steadily and confirmed his Friday performance with class position 4.

Gianluca De Lorenzi (SMR, GDL Racing) needed even less time to get used to the Zytek-fired Auto GP Lola in these tricky conditions. The Nürburgring specialist is back in a monoposto after a long break and right in the middle of the class usually dominated by GP2 cars. At the beginning of the practice session, he even matched Formula 1 driver Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) in the Toro Rosso STR1, who, however, was able to set the clearly best time with 1:52.969 in increasingly better conditions during the course of the timed practice.

In the time sheets behind them, Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag) and De Lorenzi were involved in a thriller that lasted until the chequered flag waved. De Lorenzi bumped the Monegasque out of the lead with a 1:57.978 on his very last flying lap. Faggionato however, was still on a fast lap and used it for the counterattack: 1:57.368! Faggionato thus secured pole position – his second – in the FORMULA class.

Next to De Lorenzi is reigning FORMULA champion Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) on row 2, with Colombo and Salvatore de Plano (ITA, MM International) starting behind. Luca Martucci first tried the rain line for a long time, but a spin stopped him from improving his time later in the session. In the end, the race winner of last year came in sixth in his class.

The German Ulf Ehninger (ESBA Racing) is getting more and more used to his hot equipment. Things also went well for the Benetton driver in the wet: he starts the race from grid position 8. On row 5: Nicolas Matile (MCO, Zig-Zag) and Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed), who delivered a strong performance in his first ever BOSS GP qualifying session and finished 8th in class.

The remaining rankings are available on the event page.

The first of two races of the BOSS GP Season Opening starts today, Saturday, at 15:55 local time. The race will be broadcast on Italian television (MS Motortv) and on the YouTube channel from race organiser Gruppo Peroni.

Photo: Michael Jurtin/BOSS GP

Report Qualifying Spa

Posted on August 2, 2020 by - General

FORMULA pole for Marc Faggionato

First row for Gerstl and Faggionato.

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.