Andrea Belicchi impressed with Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR’s potential
Andrea Belicchi finished his first session at the wheel of the Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR in 18th in Macau. The experienced Italian had his first taste of the Romeo Ferraris-built machinery and was happy with the potential he felt in the car.
“Being Italian and driving an Alfa Romeo is already a good feeling per se,” admitted Belicchi to TouringCarTimes. “It was my first outing, and unfortunately I had a turbine sleeve issue after just one lap, and obviously I had to stop to fix it. I’m not too worried about today’s results, as they are influenced by the issue we had.”
The most impressive thing about the Alfa seems to be the torque, although Belicchi feels it should be put down in a much smoother way: “My impression is the potential is good, especially concerning the engine. It is perhaps just too brutal, maybe it should be distributed in a different way, but it’s very nice to feel the torque, there’s a lot of power. As for the setup I haven’t really understood much due to the circumstances, and of course we’re in Macau, so you need confidence before pushing the car to the limit.”
The Italian has no goals for the weekend except having fun and pulling everything he can out of the car: “I’ve only just seen the car, so I would like to exploit the full potential of the car and have fun, that’s as much as I can ask and then come what may.”
Despite not having been too quick in free practice, Belicchi shares the view of several drivers, saying that the locals don’t have enough skill, which may cause a lot of interruptions during qualifying and the races: “Their presence is a shame, because some of us are playing for the championship. Also, there’s a risk of a lot of red flags, which would disrupt the rhythm of the races. I wouldn’t want to see a race penalised by this kind of stuff. I’ve seen people into the wall in their out-lap, so there is a chance there will be problems in the races as well.”
As for the future, the Italian hopes the race will open a door for him to be at the wheel of the Giulietta TCR more often next year: “Hopefully it is a door opening for the future, but for now it is a one-off outing. I hope I will be the one who takes the Alfa where it belongs. I would be proud to do it of course.”
Andrea Belicchi drove the Opel Astra TCR in its first outing in the TCR International Series in Bahrain.
