Unlike the first stage of Porsche Carrera Cup France, the beginning of the Italian season took place under remarkably stable weather conditions: it was sunny, hot and dry.
During the free practices and than in the qualification Tsunami RT pilot Oleksandr Gaidai demonstrated top-5 time results. However, Oleksandr made a decision not to risk in the first race and he was right as it turned out.
The start was very hard for Gianluca Giraudi – his car just failed to start from the forth position on the starting grid and could move out of its location only after all the competitors were far away.
Vito Postiglione, having started from the pole position, was leading the peloton. Edoardo Liberati and the early talent Matteo Cairoli were slightly behind him. Oleksandr Gaidai established himself on the forth position where he was immediately forechecked by the duet of Dinamic team – Giovanni Berton and Alex De Giacomi. But the Tsunami RT had no intention to politely give place to anybody. As far as Dinamic pilots understood this, they preferred to continue with the competition between themselves and left Gaidai.
At the same time, the main events so interesting to the viewers were taking place at the end of top-10: overruns, errors, contact battle, turns... Of course, Gianluca Giraudi was acknowledged as the master of overruns. He was tanking forward without any respect to the merits and regalia of the competitors, overrunning them one by one. Of course, there were mistakes that forced Giraudi to fight for the recently lost position; in other words, it was a very spectacular performance.
Also Angelo Proietti and Pietro Negra indulged the viewers with their turns, pushes and other errors. Negra started his show just on the starting grid from the maneuver very resembling to the false start.
And Postiglione, Liberati, Cairoli and Gaidai were peacefully rushing to the finish well ahead. Only on the last laps Cairoli started to attack the second position, but he had a lack of time. If only somebody knew that Matteo Cairoli keeps the main energy for the next day...
They came to the finish in the order mentioned above. Oleksandr Gaidai received his first 10 points in Porsche Carrera Cup Italy. It is the first time for our pilot to get the forth place in the absolute classification of the Italian series!!
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, Misano
Race 1
1. POSTIGLIONE Vito (Ebimotors) 18 laps
2. LIBERATI Edoardo (Ebimotors) +1.114
3. CAIROLI Matteo (Antonelli Motorsport) +1.704
4. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +13.959
5. DE GIACOMI Alex (Dinamic) +17.187
6. BERTON Giovanni (Dinamic) +17.678
O. Gaidai: "It's a good result. It was a stable race, I didn't risk but gave no chance to overrun me. I give myself for points of five for the today's race!"
But really, the situation wasn't that perfect – Gaidai's car engine worked of about 50 hours, that is the critical time for Porsche engine. And the maximum speed of the Tsunami RT pilot was 1.5-2 km/h less than of his competitors. We could take the engine of the second car participating in the French Porsche series, but the second stage of Porsche Cup France is in a week... So, Oleksandr started the second race with the same engine.
According to the rules of Porsche Carrera Cup Italy, the pilots that finished in top-6 on Saturday start with the reverse order in the second race of the week. So, Oleksandr Gaidai established himself on the second line of the starting grid. He started with two green "Dinamics" ahead and tailgated by the restless Matteo Cairoli that had just acquired the taste of the race.
The early talent hung on Gaidai's car so closely as if it was towed. Oleksandr confidently clamped down on attempts of overrun but he had hard times, especially on the straights: the engine couldn't give the same speed. Gaidai attacked in one of the turns and overran Alex De Giacomi with Cairoli still stuck to the rear bumper. Giovanni Berton was closely ahead, on assault distance. Matteo Cairoli was fiercely nosing wherever possible in the attempt to overrun Gaidai. Only 10 minutes passed from the beginning of the race and it was clear that it could not last long...
O. Gaidai: "I started braking in the desired position in one of the turns, but it was out of the trajectory, the wheels got in the dirty place and the car turned".
Cripes! – the viewers exclaimed following the emotive Italian announcer. Oleksandr Gaidai rolled away on the ninth position – out of the point zone!
Having lost the main competitor, Matteo Cairoli overran Berton without any difficulties and galloped far away – as fast as possible. The Italian announcer was still emotionally involved in Oleksandr Gaidai's misfortune, and his words about the excellent performance of the Ukrainian pilot somehow smoothed over the bitterness of the team fans, but not of Oleksandr himself. He didn't listen any compliments because he needed to catch hold of the qualification points.
After all, Oleksandr Gaidai completed the minimum task and finished in the eighth position. But, of course, he was very disappointed on the finish. Notwithstanding the pressing of the young competitor, our pilot felt completely guilty for the situation: "I had to finish on the podium, and it is nobody to accuse except myself".
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, Misano
Race 2
1. CAIROLI Matteo (Antonelli Motorsport) 18 laps
2. DE GIACOMI Alex (Dinamic) +7.616
3. BERTON Giovanni (Dinamic) +8.869
4. LIBERATI Edoardo (Ebimotors) +9.302
5. DE AMICIS Alberto (Ghinzani Motorsport) +12.568
...8. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +16.518
So, the first weekend of Porsche Carrera Cup Italy came to its end. With the results not corresponding to our ambitions, but better than all the previous participations in Misano! We pack our things quickly and back in action: we start in Imola on the second stage of Porsche Carrera Cup France in a week.