— TV Notes —
Race One
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs opened his Auto GP World Series account with a lights-to-flag victory at Monza on Saturday.
The Briton spent much of the event keeping Italian Formula 3 champion, Sergio Campana at bay, with the Briton enjoying a 1.5 second advantage at the flag.
Former GP2 racer, Pal Varhaug, crossed the line in 3rd spot, some three seconds adrift of Campana.
Quaife-Hobbs endured a couple of brief scares during the fourteen-lap event, when the Super Nova driver suffered a minor gearbox fault, before being balked badly by Sergey Sirotkin on the eighth lap, as the Russian exited the pits.
Despite these, Quaife-Hobbs maintained the lead, taking first blood in the championship chase.
Following the event, Campana’s day would go awry when he – and teammate Michele la Rosa – were penalised one minute for irregular pitstops, dropping them to 10th and 12th respectively.
It would promote Varhaug to 2nd and Dutch pilot Daniel de Jong to 3rd.
De Jong had his own heart-stopping moment early in the race. The Manor MP pilot missed the opening chicane two laps in, dropping him to 7th place.
Passes on Max Snegirev (lap 3) gave de Jong 6th, becoming 5th when Chris van der Drift suffered an off four tours in. Good pit work by the Manor crew gave de Jong an extra position at the halfway point, before collecting from Campana’s post-race penalty opened up a podium place.
Facu Regalia assumed 4th after an early pitstop left him strategically vulnerable, while van der Drift recovered to take 5th.
Giacomo Ricci returned to the cockpit to grab what would become 6th from Snegirev shortly before the chequered flag came down (7th) – both of whom enjoyed a gap of several seconds to Antonio Spavone (Euronova, 8th) and Giancarlo Serenelli (Ombra, 9th).
As per usual at Monza, the opening lap offered its own unique form of excitement. Sirotkin stalled on the grid, encouraging evasive action from field behind; however five cars still managed to collide comically in the tight opening corner.
Race One (14 laps) Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Super Nova 23m37.782s 2. Pal Varhaug Virtuosi UK + 4.800s 3. Daniel de Jong Manor MP + 11.480s 4. Facu Regalia Campos + 13.444s 5. Chris van der Drift Manor MP + 22.896s 6. Giacomo Ricci Zele + 27.137s 7. Maxim Snegirev Campos + 28.245s 8. Antonio Spavone Euronova + 32.073s 9. Giancarlo Serenelli Ombra + 40.862s 10. Sergio Campana MLR71 + 1m01.499s* 11. Giuseppe Cipriani Campos + 1m27.688s 12. Michele la Rosa MLR71 + 1m54.340s* 13. Adderly Fong Ombra + 1 lap 14. Sergey Sirotkin Euronova + 1 lap 15. Victor Guerin Super Nova + 2 laps Retirements R. Matteo Beretta Virtuosi UK DNS *One-minute penalty applied.
Race Two
Pal Varhaug grabbed the race two victory in what can only be described as a frantic event.
Having started 7th, the Norwegian claimed full points ahead of Chris van der Drift and race one winner Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
Varhaug was initially held by the slow starting Antonio Spavone, eventually gaining two spots when the over exuberant Daniel de Jong and Facu Regalia ran wide at the Rettifilo on the second lap. Within a tour, Spavone had also been dispatched by the Virtuosi UK racer.
That became 3rd when van der Drift made his mandatory pitstop on lap six, with Varhaug’s impressive pace ensuring he was on the tail of the leading pair (Max Snegirev and Giacomo Ricci) in less than a lap.
Snegirev would remove himself from the lead fight when he stopped on lap seven.
Varhaug eventually grabbed the lead two tours later – albeit through the stellar pitwork of his Virtuosi UK crew.
Spavone, who also stopped on the ninth tour (along with Ricci, Quaife-Hobbs and Sergio Campana) climbing to 2nd spot, but with the wind in his sails, Varhaug was quickly out of sight, eventually taking the chequered flag first.
Admittedly, Varhaug was helped by a clumsy Campana. Ricci, who passed Campana after the stop, found himself on the receiving end of a sideways thud in the Rettifilo.
Ricci retired on the spot, while Campana – who was handed a drive through penalty – decided to retire instead.
Spavone’s race soon also turned into a nightmare. After nearly stalling from his pole position spot, the Italian fell to 6th, recovering back to 2nd thanks to mistakes and pitstops.
Amidst a tight battle for 2nd that saw four cars lightly clutter in the Rettifio – through which van der Drift and Quaife-Hobbs intelligently avoided – Spavone fell to 5th, before succumbing to the charging Snegirev a short time later.
Having avoided the turn one carnage, van der Drift and Quaife-Hobbs brought their machines cleanly to the flag, holding off the advances of the impressive Sergey Sirotkin in the process.
Lining up 14th on the grid, Sirotkin had jumped to 10th by the end of the second lap, before claiming several more positions as pit strategies unfolded. The 16-year-old stole 4th following the four-car circus act in the Rettifilo chicane, closing on Quaife-Hobbs fast.
Despite setting the fastest lap, Sirotkin was unable to break into the podium positions, but still showed signs of promise. As for Spavone, he would reclaim 5th from Snegirev on the final tour with an aggressive move* into the Roggia chicane.
Snegirev took 6th, ahead of a quiet Adderly Fong and Giancarlo Serenelli, while Regalia recovered from his early off to take 9th.
Giuseppe Cipriani rounded out the top ten, with only Victor Guerin and Michele la Rosa finishing behind.
* {note 1}
It must be noted that some of the defending in race two was far too vigorous to be considered remotely sensible, to the point where I spent the latter part of the race wincing.
Whether it be cross-circuit weaving or forcing a competitor off track, the impression that “all is fair” is probably not the most encouraging for a series that is effectively regarded as a leftfield step on the Formula 1 ladder system.
Race Two (14 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Pal Varhaug Virtuosi UK 23m48.744s
2. Chris van der Drift Manor MP + 3.519s
3. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Super Nova + 4.445s
4. Sergey Sirotkin Euronova + 4.520s
5. Antonio Spavone Euronova + 9.839s
6. Maxim Snegirev Campos + 12.332s
7. Adderly Fong Ombra + 20.060s
8. Giancarlo Serenelli Ombra + 23.840s
9. Facu Regalia Campos + 26.135s
10. Giuseppe Cipriani Campos + 27.103s
11. Victor Guerin Super Nova + 31.180s
12. Michele la Rosa MLR 71 + 48.448s
Retirements:
Sergio Campana MLR 71 11 laps
Giacomo Ricci Zele 9 laps
Matteo Beretta Virtuosi UK 7 laps
Daniel de Jong Manor MP 6 laps
Drivers’ Championship
1. Pal Varhaug 38
2. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 38
3. Chris van der Drift 25
4. Daniel de Jong 15
5. Facu Regalia 14
Under-21’s Drivers’ Trophy
1. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 41
2. Pal Varhaug 38
3. Sergey Sirotkin 22
4. Facu Regalia 20
5. Antonio Spavone 20
Teams’ Championship
1. Manor MP 40
2. Virtuosi UK 38
3. Super Nova 38
4. Campos 26
5. Euronova 24
