Eddie Cheever dominates the first EUROV8 race at Monza

Eddie Cheever III took a comfortable victory in the first round of the EUROV8 SERIES at Monza this morning, leading from when the lights went out to the chequered flag, crossing the line almost five seconds clear ahead of team-mate Nicola Baldan.

On the parade lap, Francesco Sini’s Chevrolet Camaro failed to get away from its markers and was forced to start from the pit lane, which took the pressure off of the Roma Racing Mercedes pair ahead at the rolling start.

The 20-year-old Cheever pulled away a significant margin over his team-mate in the opening few laps, while behind, Team BMW Dinamic’s Max Mugelli was fighting off the other Chevrolet, this the Lumina of Mimmo Schiattarella, who eventually got the better of the underpowered M3 and took third place, despite a smoking engine throughout much of the race.

Mugelli later fell prey to both Tomas Kostka’s Audi RS 5, and then was passed around the outside of the Variante del Rettfilo by a recovering Sini on the penultimate lap.

The two Mercedes of Diego Romanini and Giuseppe Cipriani came together on lap six at the Variante della Roggia, with the Hartmann Mercedes of Cirpriani making a mistake on entry allowing CAAL Racing’s Romanini around the outside, but Cipriani edged into the Romanini, spinning him around and causing him to stall. The 35-year-old fell to the back of the grid and pitted the following lap.

At the front, Cheever took the victory after 14 laps unchallenged ahead of team-mate Nicola Baldan, with Solaris Motorsport’s Mimmo Schiattarella completing the top three.

The top eight are reversed for race two, meaning Team BMW Dinamic’s Mauro Copetti will start from pole alongside Audi Sport Italia’s Davide Stancheris.

Race two begins at 15:15 CET.