No rivals, no problems
and a haul of 32 championship points. In short, this
is the state of play for Alessandro Pier Guidi after the Brands Hatch
weekend, the third round of the inaugural Trofeo Maserati MC. He has no close rivals because he always led the standings, from
the free practice sessions on Saturday to Sunday's two races.
He had no problems because the
GranTurismo MC Trofeo he drove was reliable throughout the whole weekend. To
round things off, he has 32 championship points from his race finishes and
his two pole positions.
The driver from Tortona is bang in form, especially when driving the
GranTurismo MC. Pier Guidi has also proved accomplished in either the GT4 version or the
Trofeo: he dominated at Paul Ricard in the GT4 and at Brands Hatch in the
Trofeo.
Race 1
It was a typically
English setting for the opening encounter of the Trofeo Maserati
GranTurismo MC at Brands Hatch with cloudy skies, spring-like temperatures and a
light breeze. Even though the drivers were worried about the first corner before the race,
the start went off without incident. Paolo Necchi was the only driver to
suffer as he slipped down to eleventh spot.
Things got heated between Blakeney and Meaden as they sped up Hawthorn Hill
side-by-side before the Evo journalist managed to sneak past his fellow
Englishman into third. Up front Pier Guidi was beginning to stretch his lead
and was a second up on Sundberg by lap 2.
On the second lap, Pier Guidi was leading, Sundberg was in second and Meaden
third. Next came Blakeney, Ardagna Perez, Petrini, Smurra, Maddalena, Green,
Giordanelli and Paolo Necchi. The MotorMedia director tried to climb back up
the field and got into a fight with Roberto Giordanelli. The English
journalist did his best to defend his spot but eventually had to give way to
Necchi on lap four. Necchi now had the bit between his teeth and overtook
Green and Maddalena. While this was going on, Richard Meaden swept past
Peter Sundberg into second place.
The Evo journalist was very aggressive, often racing on the limit. At
Paddock Hill Bend he attempted an improbable move on the inside that saw him
nearly put all four wheels on the grass. He clipped the back of Sundberg’s
GranTurismo MC Trofeo and almost sent him into a spin. Luckily, the Swede
managed to correct and hold off the man chasing him.
As usual, there were duals going on all over the track and this kept the
fans happy. Journalists Roger Green and Giordanelli, especially,
were two drivers who left the braking as late as possible to pick up a few
tenths.
Meaden and Sundberg’s private tussle was a closer affair. On lap nine
it was Meaden who got the better of the Swede. Sundberg tried to hit back
but was having trouble with his car. He also had Blakeney looming in his
rear view mirrors to worry about. On lap seventeen at Druids Bend, Blakeney
didn’t step on the brakes until it was too late and careered into the right
of Sundberg’s GranTurismo MC Trofeo. Even after the clash, both drivers got
back into the race and kept their positions.
The action was not finished for lap seventeen: Andreas Segler, taking on
Francesco La Mazza, ran a little wide at Clark Curve, and put two wheels on
the grass. He lost control of the car and smashed into the wall flanking the
main straight. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt but had to pull out of the race.
Meanwhile, Necchi was steadily making his way through the pack. A
series of quick laps saw him catch and take Emanuele Smurra. He was now in
seventh, not far down on Marco Petrini.
On lap 20, Alessandro Pier Guidi was in total control with a 10.1 second
lead over Meaden, 13.8 over Sundberg, 14.1 over Blakeney, 26.5 over Ardagna
Perez, 28.7 over Petrini, 30.4 over Necchi and 32.1 over Smurra.
Just five laps from the end, Giordanelli attacked Leonardo Maddalena a
little too aggressively at Druids Bend resulting in the commissioners waving
the black and white flag at the Auto Italia journalist. One lap later, at
the very same spot, the English driver spun and dropped to eleventh.
As the race director was showing the chequered flag to Alessandro Pier Guidi,
Paolo Necchi was keeping pulses racing by taking on Marco Petrini. Necchi
stole sixth place with an overtaking move going into Clark Curve but, in
doing so, the MotorMedia director drifted onto the dirty part of the track.
This meant that he was forced to lift off the gas, allowing Petrini to come
back. At the finish line, Petrini just edged it, finishing 31 thousandths up
on Necchi.
Behind the front two came Richard Meaden, Peter
Sundberg, Pat Blakeney and Gaetano Ardagna. Wrapping up the top ten were
Emanuele Smurra, Leonardo Maddalena and Roeger Green. Behind this group
finished Roberto Giordanelli, Francesco La Mazza, Marcel Pawlicek and
Massimo Larciprete.
Race 2
The clouds that sat above the track in Race 1 gave way
to splendid sunshine by the time Race 2 came around. The drivers all got off to a smooth start as they filed
through turn one. Pier Guidi was leading a group with Meaden,
Blakeney, Necchi, Ardagna Perez, Maddalena, Sperati,
Giordanelli, Piancastelli, Green and Moncada in it.
Ardagna Perez wasted no time in hounding Paolo Necchi but
the MotorMedia director kept him at arm’s length. The group
was bunched over the first few laps and this made things
spicy. Nicolò Piancastelli, once he had shaken off Segler
and Pawlicek, chased down and pick-pocketed Roberto Sperati
of his seventh spot. Taking their cue from the Trofeo’s
youngest driver, Moncada and Goldstein also moved up the
rankings as they made the most of their fresh tyres.
Piancastelli didn’t drop his tempo and eased past Maddalena
on lap seven with Moncada getting the better of Green after
some close quarters action.
As in Race 1, it was Necchi who attracted the
spotlight. The Italian buzzed around Blakeney until he
forced the Englishman into an error on lap 11; now third
place was his. However, his spot on the podium was lost on
lap 14 when he made a mistake at Paddock Hill Bend as he
tried to catch second-placed Richard Meaden. Blakeney
managed to retake third but again had Necchi to fend off.
Behind the leaders, Goldstein overtook Moncada on lap 15,
with the race order reading: Pier Guidi up front from
Richard Meaden (5.7 down), Pat Blakeney (7.5 down), Paolo
Necchi (7.7 down), Ardagna Perez (20.9 down), Piancastelli
(23.5 down) and Maddalena (28.6 down).
The race lost one of its main players when Enrico Moncada
had to retire after Goldstein slammed into him. On the same
lap, Roberto Sperati also dropped out after putting his
GranTurismo MC Trofeo into the sand at Surtees. The incident
saw the safety car come on.
The action was put on hold for two laps and, when it got
going again, one of the back markers caused a bit of
confusion. Piancastelli made the most of his chance and
roared past Ardagna Perez just before the start-finish line.
Goldstein was also quick to profit, gaining two places.
With just three minutes left on the clock, Paolo Necchi
launched one last assault on Blakeney. The Italian attempted
to sneak past the Englishman on the inside of Clark Curve
but Blakeney shut the door on him, causing him to spin.
Necchi’s podium hopes ended in the sand.
The chequered flag was shown to Pier Guidi a few minutes
later for another peerless display of driving. Next up was
Richard Meaden (4.6 down), Pat Blakeney (5.5 down), Nicolò
Piancastelli (7.9 down), Ardagna Perez (15.4 down),
Goldstein (16.8 down), Maddalena (17.8 down), Giordanelli
(19.4 down), Green (34.6 down), Segler (56.1 down) and
Pawlicek (1 lap down).
Once the race was over, Piancastelli and Goldstein were hit
with a 30 second penalty by commissioners for overtaking
before the start-finish line at the safety car restart.
However, it was a conditional penalty and so the original
race order stands.
The next round on the Trofeo Maserati GranTurismo MC
calendar is Brno (Czech Republic) on 1 August.
