Audi Sport Italia Press Release
Maiden win for
Audi Sport Italia's R8 LMS ultra in the Italian Gran Turismo
opener
Andrea Sonvico and Christian Montanari clinch clean win in Vallelunga Race 1 and podium finish in Race 2; Davide Di Benedetto and Alex Frassineti post Race 1 Top3 finish
2012
Italian Gran Turismo season kick-off had a pretty good load of new things in
store for Audi Sport Italia. The drivers' line-up underwent a major overhaul, as
in Vallelunga the lone familiar face was 2011 runner-up Andrea Sonvico. He was
splitting his time in the seat of the brand-new
R8 LMS ultra with Christian Montanari. The other car was handed over to Davide
Di Benedetto and Alex Frassineti. All of them had to make acquaintance with
their new weapons on Friday
at the Piero Taruffi circuit, as the completion of the cars upgrade had been
carried out a few hours before the team trucks headed south to
Rome.
On
Saturday morning the dearth of valuable track time in the upgraded GT3 car may
have somehow hindered the Audi drivers' pole position chase, but none the less
did not scarred the Emilio Radaelli-led troops, which were pretty confident of
their possibilities come race time. As it is, if Saturday morning belonged to
BMWs, which grabbed both poles, on Saturday afternoon it was up to an R8 LMS
ultra pair to have the last laugh.
Sonvico
got ahead of poleman Stefano Colombo's Z4 at the start and was never challenged
throughout the 30-lap afternoon race. Whilst Sonvico's team mate Alex Frassineti
and the BMW driver challenged each other for the runner-up spot, Sonvico
steadily edged away from the rest of the pack, moreover setting Race 1 fastest
lap.
Audi Sport Italia's latest recruit Montanari, who is standing in for Audi Works driver Dindo Capello, was fired up to make a big impression: he just did so when he resumed the race at the front of the pack. The leading group of three drivers pulled away from the rest of the field as the 30-lap race developed, with the #31 Audi eventually beating the best BMW to the chequered flag by 5.982 seconds. Davide Di Benedetto stepped in for Frassineti in the second half of Race 1 and tried hard to pass Thomas Biagi in the closing laps, but ultimately settled for third, sealing a double Audi Top3 finish.
BMWs had sweeped Sunday's grid front row, but as the cars -- all on slick Avon tyres -- took the start, heavy clouds started to move on. As umbrellas started to sprout across the grandstands, former FIA WTCC driver Alessandro Balzan's Porsche leapfrogged BMW Italia's Z4s to lead the first half of the race, with the Bimmers in close attendance. Montanari's R8 LMS ultra was in P5 snapping at the rear fender of Enrique Bernoldi's Ferrari 458 Italia and Di Benedetto was toiling in P7 just before the mandatory pit-stop. The latter was to prove a major hindrance for Audi Sport Italia's duo, as they had to discount the time penalty triggered by the brilliant Saturday results and moreover they were prevented from reaching the pits before their leading rivals by an unfriendly pitstop window.
Audi Sport Italia's latest recruit Montanari, who is standing in for Audi Works driver Dindo Capello, was fired up to make a big impression: he just did so when he resumed the race at the front of the pack. The leading group of three drivers pulled away from the rest of the field as the 30-lap race developed, with the #31 Audi eventually beating the best BMW to the chequered flag by 5.982 seconds. Davide Di Benedetto stepped in for Frassineti in the second half of Race 1 and tried hard to pass Thomas Biagi in the closing laps, but ultimately settled for third, sealing a double Audi Top3 finish.
BMWs had sweeped Sunday's grid front row, but as the cars -- all on slick Avon tyres -- took the start, heavy clouds started to move on. As umbrellas started to sprout across the grandstands, former FIA WTCC driver Alessandro Balzan's Porsche leapfrogged BMW Italia's Z4s to lead the first half of the race, with the Bimmers in close attendance. Montanari's R8 LMS ultra was in P5 snapping at the rear fender of Enrique Bernoldi's Ferrari 458 Italia and Di Benedetto was toiling in P7 just before the mandatory pit-stop. The latter was to prove a major hindrance for Audi Sport Italia's duo, as they had to discount the time penalty triggered by the brilliant Saturday results and moreover they were prevented from reaching the pits before their leading rivals by an unfriendly pitstop window.
All
drivers then went out on wet tyres and in the closing stages as rain turned
into drizzle the fastest cars on this surface proved to be the R8 LMS ultras,
which impressively made up ground on the opposition. Sonvico edged the second
BMW to grab P3 on Lap 25, whilst Frassineti had a brief tussle with Michela
Cerruti Z4 at Roma corner before sneaking back in P4. BMW winning duo
Biagi-Colombo took possession of the lead in the Italian GT3 standings, three points
ahead of the best placed Audi pair, Montanari-Sonvico. Fellow Audi drivers Di
Benedetto-Frassineti are a step behind, 15 points adrift of the
lead.
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO --
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO --
Autodromo Piero Taruffi,
May 5 2012. Round
1
1. CHRISTIAN MONTANARI/ANDREA
SONVICO (AUDI R8 LMS ultra) 30 giri in
49'54"702 alla media di 147,316 km/h
2. Thomas Biagi/Stefano Colombo
(BMW) + 5.982S;
3. DAVIDE DI BENEDETTO/ALEX FRASSINETI (AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 7'151;
4. Stefano Comandini/Valentino Fornaroli (Ferrari) + 22'292;
5. Alessandro Balzan/Giacomo Barri (Porsche) + 29'583.
3. DAVIDE DI BENEDETTO/ALEX FRASSINETI (AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 7'151;
4. Stefano Comandini/Valentino Fornaroli (Ferrari) + 22'292;
5. Alessandro Balzan/Giacomo Barri (Porsche) + 29'583.
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO :
Autodromo Piero
Taruffi, May 6 2012. Round
2
1. Thomas Biagi/Stefano
Colombo (BMW), 26 laps 51:05.036 average
speed 124.747 kph
2. Enrique Bernoldi/Michael
Lyons (Ferrari) + 7.457s;
3. CHRISTIAN MONTANARI/ANDREA SONVICO AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 38.407s;
3. CHRISTIAN MONTANARI/ANDREA SONVICO AUDI R8 LMS ultra) + 38.407s;
4. DAVIDE DI BENEDETTO/ALEX FRASSINETI (AUDI R8LMS
ultra) + 58.103s;
5. Tommaso Rocca/Davide Romanini (Ferrari) + 1:23.962s.
5. Tommaso Rocca/Davide Romanini (Ferrari) + 1:23.962s.
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO GRAN TURISMO 2012
Provisional points
standings after 2 rounds:
1. Biagi-Colombo 35 total
points;
3. MONTANARI-SONVICO 32
pts.;
5. DI BENEDETTO-FRASSINETI 20
pts.;
7. Lyons-Bernoldi 18
pts.;
9. Balzan-Barri 12
pts.
