Spaniard Marcos Martinez, paired with Jaime Hernandez, triumphed in Race 1 at the second round of the Maserati Trofeo World Series. The weekend’s action is being staged at the Austrian circuit of Spielberg and things have been conditioned by the driving rain since the off.
Martinez, having pocketed pole position, took the win ahead of Frenchman Romain Monti – who had an extra 50 kg on board (as per regulations after coming first in Race 2 at Paul Ricard). In third came Italian driver Diego Romanini (partnering Marco Giudici). Proceedings came to a close a few minutes early when the red flag was shown; officials took this decision when Giuseppe Fascicolo lost control and careered off the track and into the barriers. Driver safety was behind this choice as Fascicolo’s car was left in a dangerous spot and the surface was pretty slippery in some sections. It was also a careful start as things only got going after 3 laps behind the safety car, this allowed the cars’ tyres to come up to temperature.
Fourth went to Patrick Zamparini (teaming up with Piotr Chodzen), ahead of an unlucky Frederik Blomstedt, who had held second for most of the race before committing a costly error. Mario Cordoni took sixth, tracked by Lino Curti and Mauro Trentin. In ninth came French driver Stephane Panepinto, shunted out of the running because he was hit with a drive-through for overtaking before the line during the rolling start.
In reality, second on the track was taken by Swede Niklas Lilja but he does not appear in the championship standings - nor does German Michael Bartels - as the two are testing two cars set up for GT4 and so don’t pick up any points.
Race 2 is planned for tomorrow, Sunday 24 May from, 11.00 to 12.00, with the grid positions an inversion of the top ten finishers today. This means that Giuseppe Fascicolo and Stephane Panepinto will line up on the front row.
“I am really happy”, declared Marcos Martinez. “It was an exceptional debut: pole position and a win. It was the toughest race of my career because of the weather. I count myself lucky for getting to the finish without any problems”.
