Mazzeo tops Q5 to remaining in the hunt
Raptor’s Alessio Mazzeo remains in the hunt for the overall TQ at the 1:8 GT World Championships in Chile, the Italian delivering his second TQ run in the fifth & penultimate round of qualifying this morning. With fog delaying the start of Day 2 of qualifying at the Club de Aeromodelos de Chile track by an hour, once the action got underway the sun would come out in force. While it was overnight TQ holder Andrea Catanzani who set the initial TQ pace for the first 6-laps, once Mazzeo’s tyres came in the 33-year-old took charge of proceedings. With Catanzani’s Serpent losing pace in the later part of the run, setting the fastest lap Mazzeo would take the all important TQ by 1.6 seconds forcing the battle to become the Top Qualifier to go to the sixth & final round. While always saying his car worked better in the hotter conditions unfortunately today noticeable increase in temperatures could hamper Mazzeo quest for the overall TQ honours as he needs another TQ run to match Catanzani but needs to do it in the fastest time to deny his fellow Italian the top spot. Catanzani’s Q4 run from yesterday is the fastest so far and Mazzeo’s latest TQ run was some 4-seconds shy of the pace needed. While all the attention was on the Mazzeo/Catanzani battle, behind them it would be Natanaele Senesi who completed the Top 3 after Alex D’Angelo’s Capricorn ran out of fuel on the last lap.
