Maurizio Fabris triumphed in the third round of the Trofeo Vodafone Maserati Europa, held today at Imola. The Italian, who races with an English licence, crossed the line ahead of the Swiss pairing of Hans Notter and Max Cattori and Alberto Cerrai, the overall leader.

Diego Alessi got off to a fine start with Alberto Cerrai, Manuel Villa, Rob Wilson and Hans Notter tailing him. Jodie Kidd, on the other hand, had tough opening after she left the track at Tosa after clashing with another car. She was then hit with a stop&go penalty. The English supermodel, who shares the drive of the Pirelli VIP car with Fabrizio De Simone, managed to get back into the race. Alessi was setting a great pace up front and his time of 2:02.610 was even faster than that which earned him pole position. The Roman driver would be the only driver to dip under 2.03.

The race order, as normal, changed after the obligatory round of 1:30 pit stops. Cerrai, as a result of the Barcelona result, had to spend an extra 12 seconds in the pit lane, Notter/Cattori eight seconds and Wilson, four. Cerrai opted to make his pit stop early as he had a problem with a wheel rim that was changed by the mechanics. When the race settled down once more, it was Maurizio Fabris heading the pack from Cerrai and Max Cattori. An intense close-quarters duel began between the Swiss and the Roman that only ended when Cattori swept past Cerrai at the Variante Alta. The race order remained unchanged until the chequered flag was waved as Fabris proved capable of managing his lead very well.
 

The driver of the number 46 car won with a 7.413 second margin over the Notter/Cattori crew and 8.185 over Alberto Cerrai. The Smurra brothers performed admirably to take fourth despite once spinning. Andrea DeMegni also did well and headed the special classification reserved to VIP car drivers in finishing fifth. In sixth was a fine Rob Wilson. Daniele Massaro and Marco Cioci had a race to remember in the SportItalia VIP car. They ended the race in seventh, edging out the Ravasio/Alessi duo, and also Kostantin Ioannidis and Walter Forer, ninth and tenth respectively. Fabrizio De Simone and Jodie Kidd came home in eleventh after a race that was uphill all the way. Gianmarino Zenere and Tetsuya Harada, now more at home in the Trofeo GranSport, came next. The other guest drivers had a harder time of it as Loris Reggiani and Alberto Sabbatini’s race was compromised after a spin.

Alberto Cerrai is now on 61 points overall. In second are Hans Notter and Max Cattori on 53 points, with Maurizio Fabris third on 50. The next race on the calendar is programmed for Silverstone on 10 July. The weekend will see the Trofeo GranSport race on the same English circuit as the Formula 1 single-seaters.