Every time before the start in Monza the pilots swear off to pass the first turn named Rettifiglio calmly and carefully. In Monza good intentions lead to the blockage. Having got out of Rettifiglio, the racers reveal that all their efforts during the qualification have no sense anymore, and here is the point where the race starts from the very beginning. The main thing is not to finish it in that turn!..
Oleksandr Gaidai started from the seventh position in the first race of the weekend. Signal light, start, Rettifiglio... and the Porsche of Ilya Melnikov is pressing forward the car in Tsunami RT colors!..
O. Gaidai: "I know this place well, and all the accidents usually happen on this very first lap here. I decided to slow down and just give way to Melnikov, otherwise it could have finished with the hard contact and double escaping".
But Alex De Giacomi couldn't orientate himself so quickly. Impact, spin, retiring...
Matteo Cairoli immediately started to forecheck the driver from pole position, Gianluca Giraudi, in his charmingly categorical manner. The attack was successful and two leaders drove further forward to sort things out face to face.
Vito Postiglione came onto the third position and was followed by Edoardo Liberati for some time, but Vito still had higher pace.
It was higher but not high enough to catch up with Giraudi and Cairoli. If at that very moment Gianluca hadn't decided to push the energetic junior from his first position... Just at that very moment it became especially noticeable that the bright talent is very good but it still needs experience. Matteo Cairoli got nervous and began to make blots and finally gave way to Giraudi after the contact in the turn, and then also Postiglione.
It enlivened a little the race that was rather stable and predictable after the first five minutes of mess. Oleksandr Gaidai was looking for the possibility to overrun Ilya Melnikov but unsuccessfully. The finish flag caught him on the eight position of the absolute classification. Gaidai demonstrated his best result in Monza in this race. He was only ninth before, but he still was not satisfied with the impossibility to get higher position.
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, Monza. Race 1
1. GIRAUDI Gianluca (Antonelli Motorsport) 16 laps
2. POSTIGLIONE Vito (Ebimotors) +0.533
3. CAIROLI Matteo (Antonelli Motorsport) +2.304
...
8. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +17.887
...
13. TORTA Matteo (Ghinzani Arco Motorsport) +3 laps
The second race of Porsche Carrera Cup Italy weekend is always more interesting than the previous one on the start: the first six pilots start in reverse order according to the results of the yesterday race.
Signal light, start, Rettifiglio... and Rinat Salikhov turns directly onto the Gaidai's car! And when the Porsche in Tsunami RT colors is jumping on the kerb in effort to stabilize the moving, Salikhov bumps also David Roda and the latter spinnes...
Meanwhile, there is the distribution of positions between the first six drivers in front. Ilya Melnikov that finished on the sixth position yesterday and it means that today he has started from the pole position is predictably losing grounds. The four drivers, Liberati-Cairoli-Postiglione-Giraudi, start to divide the places on the podium among themselves.
Oleksandr Gaidai swiftly overruns Angelo Proietti and returns to the eighth position, just behind Alberto De Amicis. Rapid, accurate and masterful maneuver – and Gaidai is in front of him! However, De Amicis had no intent to give up in a state of overtaking driver.
The four sportsmen ahead were divided to pairs: Vito Postiglione and Edoardo Liberati were deciding who would win the first place and Matteo Cairoli with Gianluca Giraudi – as of the third step of the podium. Ilya Melnikov was far behind and the fifth position was taken by Giovanni Berton and the sixth – by Oleksandr Gaidai with De Amicis as "attachment". The same picture we could observe on the first PCCI stage a month ago, but it was Matteo Cairoli to follow Tsunami RT pilot at tail for the long time. And this time, within 28 minutes plus one lap, De Amicis was fiercely trying to overrun Gaidai...
O. Gaidai: «For me it's always easier to attack by myself than to defend, especially if the duel is with a really fast pilot. I often lack the concentration for all the 30 minutes of race, not speed, but the concentration. But today I coped with it, I held Alberto De Amicis behind!"
Alberto De Amicis couldn't do anything with the Tsunami RT pilot. And Oleksandr Gaidai breaks a new personal record for Monza — 6th place in the absolute classification! And already after the finish we received information that the result of Giovanni Berton had been cancelled due to the requirements discrepancy of his car. Tsunami RT and Oleksandr Gaidai got the fifth place in Monza!
Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, Misano. Race 2
1. POSTIGLIONE Vito (Ebimotors) 16 laps
2. LIBERATI Edoardo (Ebimotors) +1.589
3. CAIROLI Matteo (Antonelli Motorsport) +3.784
4. GIRAUDI Gianluca (Antonelli Motorsport) +5.949
5. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +8.819
...
13. SALIKHOV Rinat (Sportec Motorsport) +14 laps
Only in two weeks Tsunami RT will go to the next stage of Porsche Carrera Cup France in Le Mans. Oh, it will be a completely unusual race! But that, as classics said, is quite a different story...