MASERATI TROFEO WORLD SERIES, SILVERSTONE (UK), 20 JULY 2014, RACE 2 - 3

Calamia Ragazzi and Gardel victorious at Silverstone Calamia takes the Trofeo Europa

SThings went with the form book yesterday as Mauro Calamia claimed the Trofeo Europa, the first title up for grabs in the 2014 Maserati Trofeo World Series. At the end of the third round, held at Silverstone, the Swiss Team driver topped the standings after the three European rounds. So, Calamia takes over from Renaud Kuppens, the reigning champion who was missing from this round after deciding to pull out of the series along with his Konvex Motorsport team mate, Daniel Waszczinski.

So, Calamia claimed the title thanks to a second place in Race 3 and two poles secured in qualifying. He did not pocket any points in the first two races - despite crossing the line first - after the officials decided that his car did not meet the required 2014 Maserati Trofeo World Series spec. This meant that he was disqualified from Race 1, on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning's Race 2. The same fate befell his team-mate Gabriel Gardel, but he was only ruled out of the second event, for the same reason.

The verdicts saw Riccardo Ragazzi awarded the first race from Andrea Cecchellero and Alberto Cola. Ragazzi also won Race 2, this time from Cola and a quick Alan Simoni, who started from last and mounted a fine comeback; the Italian had to fight his way through the field in each race: he came fifth in Race 1 after being among the backmarkers, and seventh in Race 3 after lining up in 23rd.

The endurance event was taken by Gabriele Gardel from Calamia, who had to spend an extra 20 seconds during his compulsory pit stop. Third on the podium was Italian driver Cola, ahead of the returning Giorgio Sernagiotto (fourth). The race was conditioned towards the end when the safety car came on to allow Roberto Silva's car, which had stopped in a dangerous position on the circuit, to be dragged away. At the restart with the pack bunched together and, with the clock ticking, both Calamia and Cola tried, in vain, to improve their placing. Behind them, the bunch that had been battling it out for the entire 60 minutes could only watch as Ragazzi, Cecchellero/Bakker, Simoni, Michael Cullen and Giuseppe Fascicolo crossed the line ahead of them.

Italian pop star Max Gazzè made it to the finish line in all three events with the twelfth spot he took in the endurance race his best finish.

The next round in the Maserati Trofeo Wolrd Series will be held at Vir Int'l Raceway, USA, on 24 August.

Race 1 1 Riccardo Ragazzi – 31:15.6522 2 Andrea Cecchellero/Mathijs Bakker – 31:19.1263 3 Alberto Cola – 31:24.199

Race 2 1 Riccardo Ragazzi – 31:06.2922 2 Alberto Cola – 31:32.3773 3 Alan Simoni – 31:39.237

Race 3 1 Gabriele Gardel (Swiss Team) – 1.00’28.268 2 Mauro Calamia (Swiss Team) – 1.00’29.054 3 Alberto Cola – 1.00’29.185

Overall Classification after 3 round 1 Mauro Calamia (Swiss Team) – 103 points 2 Gabriele Gardel (Swiss Team) – 86 points 3 Alberto Cola – 70 points