Lewis Williamson and Nick Leventis endure poor luck in a frustrating weekend at Imola.
Strakka Racing experienced a character-building and incident-packed Renault Sport Trophy round at the Autodromo di Imola in Italy. With Nick Leventis twice being punted out of contention and, thanks to a post-race fuel quantity check, Lewis Williamson being stripped of what would have been a third podium of the season for the team, it was a weekend of highs and lows.
The team arrived brimming with confidence following a strong opening round of the season last month at Motorland Aragon. Making his race debut alongside Williamson was Prestige racer Leventis, who will partner the Scot for the remainder of the season.
Leventis started Saturday’s Endurance race in eighth and brave, around-the-outside commitment left the Brit seventh at the end of the first lap. Leventis’ race soon turned sour however, with a move from Oregon Racing’s Ash Hand at the Tosa hairpin leaving the Strakka car facing the wrong way. With Williamson taking over for the second half of the race in 12th place, the Strakka R.S.01 began to climb the order – the Pro driver demonstrated commitment grabbing places from Meindert van Buuren and Anders Fjordbach, as well as setting the second fastest lap time of the race with a 1:40.501. Williamson’s perseverance saw him bring the car home eighth at the chequered flag.
Starting seventh in Sunday’s Sprint AM race, Leventis’ baptism of fire continued thanks to more contact with Hand. On the run down to turn one, Leventis found himself on the outside while a late-braking Hand placed his car in an ever-closing wedge on the apex. Contact was inevitable and the net result was a beached Leventis on the outside of turn two – his race already run.
Williamson fared better in the Sprint Pro race, however it wasn’t without incident. Starting third, a sluggish get away from pole-sitter Bruno Bonifacio left Williamson having to take avoiding action by swerving to the left of the Brazilian. Initially Williamson was awarded a 10-second time penalty by the stewards for an adjudged false start, however that penalty was later dismissed.
Fighting against the clock, Williamson soon found his rhythm and with five minutes left to run he made his move on David Fumanelli for second. That move allowed Williamson to put in a searing set of laps late on, however Bonifacio’s three-second lead proved too big to eradicate. “The car felt great though and we managed the tyres well,” said Williamson. “With a few more laps I think we could have crossed the line first.”
Sadly for Williamson and the team, their efforts came to nil shortly after the race, with the car being found to have too little fuel on board for the mandatory inspection, leaving them excluded from the race results. “We are all gutted to have lost the place after scrutineering,” added Williamson. “We are still learning about the car and will be sure not to have that happen again. On the positive side, we know we’ve got a strong package going into the rest of the season and a win is very much overdue!”
Despite the difficulties, Williamson leaves Imola second in the Pro standings with the next rounds taking place on 16th-17th July at the Red Bull Ring.
