Photo: EUROV8 Media

Francesco Sini wins dramatic Race 1 in Vallelunga

Francesco Sini took his first win of the year in the EUROV8 series in a very eventful race. The Chevrolet Camaro came home ahead of Nicola Baldan’s Mercedes C63 AMG Coupé, with Niccolò Mercatali completing the podium for BMW.

At the start, Team BMW Dinamic’s Max Mugelli had a good get-away, but just before the Curvone, a flat out right hander, he had a touch with Davide Stancheris’ Audi RS 5. The two went off at high speed, with the Audi able to get back on track. The Bavarian car was less lucky, as Mugelli flipped and rolled the car twice before coming to a halt. The driver was reportedly uninjured.

During the subsequent safety car period and just before the restart, Maurizio Copetti overtook Baldan at the last corner. Copetti was later given a black/white flag for the incident. Audi’s Tomas Kostka was leading the race ahead of Sini and Mercatali.

The leading duo quickly opened a gap at the restart, but Kostka was given a drive through penalty for misbehaving at the start of the race. Sini inherited the lead and managed a comfortable gap from Baldan, who managed to overtake Copetti – who let him through after his mistake under Safety Car – and Mercatali.

Team BMW Dinamic’s duo started an entertaining fight, but the charging Audi drivers led the action with Stancheris overtaking team-mate Ermanno Dionisio and Diego Romanini to fifth, as the pair fought all through the race. Kostka also overtook Romanini at Cimini, but drama was not over for the Czech driver as he broke his gearbox with just a few corners to go and had to stop the car.

Romanini therefore inherited sixth, while his team-mate Baccarelli came eighth and will start from pole position in Race 2.

Francesco Sini won the race in his Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Nicola Baldan, who seemed to be in a much better shape compared to yesterday in the Mercedes C63 AMG Coupé. Mercatali took BMW’s first podium in the series ahead of team-mate Copetti, while Davide Stancheris made the most out of a race compromised by the accident at the start.

Diego Romanini had a great defensive drive, hard but fair, and put his Mercedes C63 AMG ahead of Ermanno Dionisio’s Audi RS5. Leonardo Baccarelli’s Mercedes completed the top eight, and will start from pole position in Race 2.

Tomas Kostka was still classified in tenth despite not seeing the flag due to his gearbox problem. Francesco Ascani’s BMW M3 E90 came home ninth.

Next up for the EUROV8 Series is Race 2, which is scheduled for 15.00 CET.