Robert Pietsch wins Italian EFRA GP

Last weekend saw the first EFRA GP of 2010 take place for 1:8 on road, held at the Jody Scheckter circuit in Fiorano, Italy. With more than 70 drivers in attendance, including World champions Lamberto Collari and Daniele Ialesi, the competition was extremely tough. Following qualifying it was the 9-time World Champion Collari on pole position, followed by Robert Pietsch in 2nd, Andrea Cristiani in 3rd and Walter Salemi in 4th, the final direct qualifier.

Top 4 qualifiers
1. Lamberto Collari
2. Robert Pietsch
3. Andrea Cristiani
4. Walter Salemi

Following the Semi finals, were Alberto Picco, Rick Vrielijnck and Marco Vanni had problems, the following drivers managed to bump up into the main final:

5. Robin D’Hondt (Semi B)
6. Michele Romagnoli (Semi A)
7. Mattia Pesenti (Semi A)
8. Daniele Ielasi (Semi B)
9. Stefano Solaroli (Semi A)
10.Andrea Lorenzi (Semi A)

In the final Lamberto Collari, Andrea Cristiani and Robin D’Hondt had the best start, while on the dirty side of the track Walter Salemi managed to overtake Robert Pietsch. Collari was pushing very hard at the beginning to get some space between him and Cristiani, the local hero and track record holder, while behind Pietsch had to fight very hard to pass Salemi and D’Hondt. After a few minutes Collari was losing some ground due to a broken 2nd gear pinion, and was passed by several drivers, eventually pitting for repairs and losing a lot of time. After 18 minutes Cristiani was leading 6 seconds ahead of Pietsch and additionally 3 seconds before Romagnoli who at this time was doing very fast lap times and closing the gap to Pietsch. At 22 minutes Cristiani was doing a tire change (a 36 sec lap time), so Pietsch took over the lead ahead of Romagnoli and Cristiani. At 25 minutes Pietsch (32 sec lap time) and Romagnoli (39 sec lap time) also changed tires and Cristiani got back into the lead but only 1.5 seconds before Pietsch and what followed was qualifying lap times from the top 3 drivers. Romangoli was out at 34 minute mark and at the 37 minute mark Pietsch pitted for fuel, with a very fast stop by mechanic Felix Heyse. Cristiani was going for fuel one lap later and “Papa” Cristiani made a small mistake and lost some time and with Pietsch full throttle on the straight he came along side Cristiani who was exiting the pit lane very quickly to come out just before Pietsch, but the young Italian was too fast for the small bump before the pit exit and ended up on the grass losing 4 seconds. Now both drivers were pushing extremely hard again and Cristiani managed to close the gap up to just 2 seconds before the next refuel at 41 minutes. Pietsch was again in one lap before Cristiani the pit stop and once more Cristiani was risking it all on the pit lane exit and again went on to the grass. Pietsch now had a comfortable lead of 6 seconds to the end of the race winning ahead of Cristiani, while Daniele Iealasi managed to cruise to 3rd position without a tire change, ending up more than 3 laps behind.

Final result:
1. Pietsch Robert – 170 laps in 45:11.842
2. Cristiani Andrea – 169 laps in 45:03.079
3. Ielasi Daniele – 166 laps in 45:01.814
4. Pesenti Mattia – 165 laps in 45:08.922
5. Salemi Walter – 165 laps in 45:09.923
6. D’Hondt Robin – 160 laps in 43:33.196
7. Romagnoli Michele – 128 laps in 34:22.767
8. Lorenzi Andrea – 124 laps in 45:04.992
9. Collari Lamberto – 104 laps in 45:14.092
10.Solaroli Stefano – 48 laps in 14:38.769

Thanks to Michael Selner for the report.