F1Weekly Podcast # 989

Play Podcast: 04-25-23f1weekly989.mp3

WITH THE RETURN OF FORMULA 1 AFTER A FOUR WEEK PAUSE CLARK AND NASIR KEEP THE PODCASTING MACHINE CHURNING! THIS WEEK IS NO DIFFERENT WITH AN OVER THE TOP MOTORSPORTS MONDIAL!…SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH JAY HOWARD DRIVER DEVELOPMENT GURU!

LET’S ALSO TALK ABOUT TOTO’S FAVORITE SERIES...

CLIO CUP EUROPE…TORELLI UNBEATABLE ON HOME TURF!

Saturday winner at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Gabriele Torelli (Rangoni Corse) did it again on Sunday after a spirited battle with Anthony Jurado (Milan Compétition), David Pouget (GPA Racing) and Nicolas Milan (Milan Compétition). Thanks to this stellar success against the French trio, the Italian consolidates his lead in Clio Cup Europe and Clio Cup Mid-Europe. Meanwhile, Julien Baziret (Baziret Sport) and Marc Fleurance (T2CM) took the honours in the Challengers and Racers Cups.

On Sunday afternoon, Gabriele Torelli lined up on pole position after dominating the qualifying session at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Friday. On the 49-car Clio Cup grid, the Italian started ahead of Anthony Jurado and maintained the lead despite the Frenchman’s attempts, while Luca Franca (MC Motortecnica) was surprised by David Pouget and Cristian Ricciarini (Essecorse).

In an action-packed field, with Alex Lancellotti (Faro Racing) the only opening lap victim, Anthony Jurado kept pushing, but Gabriele Torelli did what was needed under braking to stay in the lead. Meanwhile, Cristian Ricciarini lost his fourth place when he went straight on at the first chicane before the safety car came out following the accident at the Variante Ascari involving Tim Gabor (GM Sport) and Jacopo Giuseppe Cimenes (Essecorse), later penalisd for his responsibality.

At the restart, Anthony Jurado took advantage of Gabriele Torelli’s slipstreaming to take the lead in the Rettifilo chicane as David Pouget looked on. The latter overtook Gabriele Torelli on lap seven. Nicolas Milan was next on the following lap, but the hierarchy changed again when Anthony Jurado went wide at the Variante Ascari.

Inheriting the lead, David Pouget tried to break the gap to the chasers but lost position to Gabriele Torelli after a great duel at the Curva Grande. This move proved decisive as the race ended behind the safety car after Ivan Mandić (Tempo Racing Team) collided with Rene Steenmetz (Cherfo Sport) at the entrance to the Variante Ascari.

Gabriele Torelli made it two wins from two races on home soil ahead of French rivals David Pouget and Nicolas Milan. Relegated to seventh position after his mistake, Anthony Jurado climbed back to fourth place ahead of Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing) and Julien Baziret, winner in the Challengers category. After Luca Franca’s collision with Tomas Pekar (Carpek Racing) on the last lap under green flag conditions, Challengers Mattia Lancellotti (Faro Racing), Alejandro Schimpf (AST Competition), Giacomo Trebbi (MC Motortecnica) and Adrian Schimpf (AST Competition) completed the top ten while Marc Fleurance won in Racers Cup ahead of Alessandro Alcidi (Tuder Motorsport) and teammate Sébastien Gehin (T2CM).

At the end of the weekend gathering 30,000 spectators, Nicolas Milan and David Pouget are now tied on points at the top of the Clio Cup Series, while Gabriele Torelli moves up to third place in his first appearance of the season. Fourth-place finisher Adrian Schimpf is the highest-ranked Challenger, while Luca Franca is the highest-ranked Racer in 15th place.