SOLARIS MOTORSPORT HOPES FOR DOUBLE CAMARO EFFORT IN 2014
The last SWR round held at Imola celebrated a Race 1 win for Mercedes with Vitantonio Liuzzi while Gianni Morbidelli (Audi) took Race 2. In the afternoon's Race, Italian Francesco Sini scored his first podium of the season with the Solaris Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro.
The Pescara-based man, known as "Ringhio" (growl) for his tough attitude, has a long Championship experience as he made his debut with the CAAL Racing Mercedes in 2010. The following season, he drove a Jaguar for Team Ferlito, while his first win came in 2012 with the Solaris Motorsport-prepared Chevrolet Lumina CR8.
For 2013, Francesco and his father Roberto, who are sharing the management duties, decided to bring on-track the Camaro model. After some youth issues, the project started to deliver again with the early podium scored in Italy.
"I'm convinced that we could have already achieved a podium finish in the previous races - told Sini - it's demonstrated by the times scored at Donington. Unfortunately I was involved in a crash there and could not start in Race 2. At Imola we had showed great potential, but we were sure we had something to say this season. The limited time for development gave us some headaches paired with a series of crashes on Race day. Finally our efforts have come to fruition. After the podium, we now wont a win and we're gonna do everything we can at Vallelunga."
SUPERSTARSWORLD invites its fans on-track for Vallelunga (October 12th-13th) with the FREE TICKET campaign. Free Tickets are available from the series' website (www.superstarsworld.com) or Facebook fanpage (www.facebook.com/stsofficial). By clicking the “Free Ticket ON” banners, fans will need to fill a form before receiving a voucher at their e-mail addresses.
Speaking after the end of this afternoon’s qualifying session, the Ferrari drivers and their technical director all spoke of the need to find something extra for tomorrow, to look at strategy, to give it their best shot. Even if Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will start tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix from fifth and sixth places on the grid, with concerns about a drop in the F138’s usually strong race pace, there was no suggestion that anyone from the Maranello squad is getting downhearted or giving up. Their fighting talk shows everyone at Ferrari is still bent on chasing the flying Sebastian Vettel over the final six races.
And indeed it was the German who took pole position for Red Bull, lapping just over two tenths quicker than Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. In the other Red Bull, Mark Webber set the third quickest time, but of course he gets a ten place grid penalty here, which he picked up in Singapore after hitching a lift on Fernando’s F138 “taxi version.” That means everyone from fourth down to thirteenth place on this afternoon’s time sheet, shuffles up one place. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus and Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes therefore now share row 2, with Fernando and Felipe promoted to fifth and sixth respectively, making an all-red third row.
Usually at this point, we look at the possibility of a great start and a strong long run pace allowing the Ferrari duo to gain an immediate advantage over the opening lap and beyond. Tomorrow, it seems that only the first of those two assets could come into play. Since Friday, the F138 has not been quite as potent as usual over long runs. But unlike Singapore for example, overtaking, with the help of the two DRS zones, does seem possible. Tyre degradation looks high, mainly on the Supersoft Option tyre, the Spanish Ferrari man lamenting his inability to push on it for an entire lap. When you lack pace, you often hope for rain and tomorrow, that might just turn out to be the ingredient that could level the playing field, as heavy downpours are forecast. However, if one assumes that the main advantage possessed of the championship leaders is excellent levels of downforce, then that still remains an asset in the wet. Therefore, a rain affected race is not guaranteed to improve Fernando’s and Felipe’s chances.
