Tamiya Group C Series Round 2 – Report
Round two of the all-new Group C Series took place last weekend, once again on the wonderful Vallelunga track. The race saw a repeat of entries compared to the season opener, despite some last minute deficiencies. The field proved to be competitive as ever, and at the end of controlled practice, qualifying and finals the gap between drivers was tiny. Riccardo Acciari would eventually come out as overall winner, followed by Magnocavallo and Emiliano Bartolini pushing TQ Alessandro Bagagli off the podium finishing third overall.
The first round of qualifying saw Bagagli take the TQ, followed by Cardelli with a 4-tenths gap over the best 5 laps, Piscopo third and Magnocavallo rounding up the top four. In the second round Bagagli repeated himself, although this time the margins were much smaller: Bartolini would finish second just 8/hundreds of a second behind over 5 laps and Acciari would round up the top three a further 8/hundreds behind. This meant a gap of .034 seconds per lap between the TQ and third place and Alessandro wrapping up the overall TQ. In the third round, Acciari would end up top of the sheets securing second on the grid, in front of Bartolini and Magnocavallo, with Cardelli finishing up 5th overall.
The first and second finals saw a very similar plot developing, with Acciari benefiting from less-than-optimal starts from Bagagli and taking the lead during the first lap to never lose it again, despite the charges from Magnocavallo who would get past Bagagli and Bartolini in the first stages of the legs to finish second in both. With the former buggy Euro B winner wrapping up the race in the first two finals, in the third leg it was a three-way battle until the last lap between Bagagli, Bartolini and Magnocavallo lapping on nearly identical times for the majority og the ten minutes final, until Luca managed to take control of the race and edge out the two contenders to take the win and secure second overall. Emiliano Bartolini rounded up the podium, and TQ Alessandro Bagagli ended up fourth.
The B final saw BQ Marco Sarra battling it out with Witold Odrobny, and as usual the battle was very clean and enjoyable for everyone watching the race. Marco would eventually come out as winner of the B main, just like in the season opener back in October.
The standings now see Riccardo Acciari on full points after two races, but with the Championship having three more events and one throw-out result, everything is still to be decided. The organizers would like to once again thank Paolo Freducci for his tremendous work behind the camera.
Source: Tamiya Group C Series [Facebook]
