Wednesday, April 6, 2022

SRO GT4 Europe: Imola, Race 1

Race 1 (Saturday)

This is the first event of the 2022 campaign for SRO GT4 Europe, here at the legendary Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy.  Race one of the weekend, is set to go.  This is the first race of the year for GT4 Europe.  Yours truly is checking out GT4 Europe for the first time.  The grid is enormous with the grid sheet covering two sheets of A4 paper.  We have nine brands represented in the field and on pole is a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.  There are many favorites.  We welcome back David Addison and Ben Constanduros to call this race.  Many brands and cars represented.  On the pole for this one, the Pro-Am entry, car #22 for Allied Racing.  This is the Porsche Cayman Clubsport for Allied Racing out of Germany, with a German duo of drivers.  Vincent Andronaco will start and hand over later in the race to Andreas Mayrl.  The Pro driver qualifies and starts.  With two Silver ranked drivers, the team decides who qualifies the car and starts the race.  We have five minutes before the race gets underway with the formation lap.  

Second on the grid is the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes to be shared by the French duo of Jim Pla and Jean Luc Beaubelique.  We've seen both of them race in the big game in a GT3 Mercedes before and this car being run by Akkodis ASP which also stars in GTWC Europe and we saw them race in the Sunday event.  Well, they have a major presence in GT4 Europe as well.  The third place starting car was late out of the garage after undergoing repairs after sustaining damage in qualifying, working until the final moments before the grid opens.  The #81 Mercedes AMG GT4 is another AKKA ASP entry, listed as AKKA ASP as opposed to Akkodis ASP.  This is another all-French duo with Simon Gachet and Eric Debard.  We had one of the Alpine's scratch from the entry after a crash but we are now looking at another.  This is car #13.  They hope that is a lucky number today, the Arkadia Racing Alpine A110 GT4 to be driven by another French duo.  Pierre Louis Chovet will start and then hand the car to co-driver Johan Boris Scheier.

We did see a red flag 30 seconds before the end of qualifying for the GT4 cars.  In fifth place, is the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Aston Martin AMR GT4 being shared by Gus Bowers from England and Swiss driver Konstantin Lachenauer.  Lachenauer will take the start of the race.  Gus Bowers is on pole for race two when we get to that.  In sixth spot we see Kenton Koch, the American, who is a familiar name to viewers of SRO America and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, both.  Koch is teamed up in the #5 Team Spirit Racing Aston Martin alongside Dutchman Thijmen Nabuurs.  Kenton Koch is new to circuits in Europe.  In seventh place, starting his second season in an Audi R8 GT4 is Israeli driver Roee Meyuhas, for Sainteloc Racng, another team we have regularly seen in GT3 in GTWC Europe and Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Meyuhas is sharing with Frenchman Erwan Bastard.  We had 49 cars on the official entry list and lost one car off the list, the Speedcar Audi which crashed backwards into the wall and had to withdraw.  We might see another Alpine out for race two but not for today.  47 cars will take the green for this race today.  Race Director Steve Burns seems to be set to go but there is a car still in the lane, one of the Toyota Supra GT4's.  It is the CMR Toyota in the lane.  This is the #66 CMR Toyota GR Supra GT4 to be driven by Romain Monty of France and Antoine Potty of Belgium.  The safety car leads the field on the formation lap.  Maybe the #66 missed the pit lane closing time.  There was a car that was not seen in the qualifying session but will start the race.  This is the #7 AGS Events Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT4.  The driving duo in that car is all-French.  Andy Noah sharing with Hugo Conde.  

48 cars will start.  Vincent Gisy will start in place of his brother Christian in the second of the two Team Spirit Racing Aston Martin's, car #6.  The Toyota is still in the lane for some reason, at least one of them.  The #8 and #66 CMR Toyota Supra's are not benefitting from the formation laps being stuck in the pit lane.  it is #66 starting from the lane, the car driven by Romain Monti and Antoine Potty.  It was way down the order on the grid in the first place.  Many drivers were sprinkled through the field who are very talented.  We are completing the second formation lap and ought to see a start to this race in mere moments.

This will be a mega sized squeeze into Tamburello.  The last time GT4 Europe raced here was in 2020.  There was a smaller grid back then because of the pandemic which seems to be waning by now.  So, it is time for season 2022 for GT4 Europe to get underway.  Vincent Andronaco and Jim Pla lead the field down for the start.  Red lights on, green lights on!  Away we go!  Pla starts well and into Tamburello for the first time, a couple cars bound over the curbs.  Andronico leads the mtoror race and there's three wide in the middle of the pack.  Car #5, the Team Spirit Racing Aston Martin of Thijmen Nabuurs makes a pass already!  Ah yes.  A spin through Tosa, for the #67 Team Fullmotorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4.  Jeremie Lesoudier of France sharing with Spaniard Marc Lopez.  Lesoudier is back on track now.

Toyota #66 is in the race, as the field climbs through Variante Alta and uphill to Acqua Minerale.  The lead battle is Porsche vs. Mercedes.  Vincent Andronico is a new competitor in GT4 Europe and looking good.  Jim Pla and Simon Gachet follow through.  Both of them have vast experience in production GT racing in both GT3 and GT4.  Kenton Koch runs fourth followed by Konstantin Lachenauer and Pierre-Louis Chovet.  So, two Aston Martin's and an Alpine are in this battle.  Whoa!  Another Aston Martin spins into the gravel!  That's Andy Noah at the wheel of the #7 AGS Events entry.  The margin for the lead battle is six tenths of a second betwen Vincent Andronaco and Jim Pla.  Will the Aston be OK to be extricated from the gravel trap without the safety car?

That is the next question.  Noah got squeezed to the outside and spun into the gravel trap.  Some drivers just got a bad deal on that start including the #55 Autosport GP Alpine in the hands of Jean-Baptiste Mela sharing with fellow Frenchman Laurent Hurgon.  Battle packs all over the track as we watch.  Game over for Andy Noah.  So his co-driver Hugo Conde won't see action today and will have to wait for the next race tomorrow to have a go at it.  Wait.  Hold the phone ladies and gentlemen.  It appears Andy Noah has escaped the gravel and is back on his way.  He is badly delayed but in the race.  Antoine Leclerc in the Alpine did not even start.  The top three has not changed yet.  Andronaco leading Pla and Gachet.  There is a mandatory pit window between 25 and 35 minutes.  We will see a minimum pit lane delta of 89 seconds.

The Aston Martin's just don't have the same speed as the German cars up front.  Kenton Koch and Konstantin Lachenauer are in a battle of their own for fourth but cannot latch onto the leaders.  Side by side stuff here, between Koch and Lachenauer.  With a bit of argy bargy Lachenauer takes the spot away.  The top three continue breaking away.  Pierre Louis Chouvet runs sixth and in seventh spot is Lluc Ibanez, the Spaniard at the wheel of the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT4.  Ibanez sharing with Frenchman Enzo Joulie.  The leading three are making good their escape.  Watch the curbs.  The left side of Variante Alta is a tricky spot.  Acqua Minerale, another tough place, where suspension systems are easily breakable.  The flat curbs are fine.  The sausage curbs, you need to watch out for them.  Simon Gachet is still monstering Jim Pla.  Tom Canning is also pushing aboard another of the Aston Martin's.  

Speaking of Aston Martin, Andy Noah brought the car to the pit lane, extracted all the gravel and then went back out to continue in the race.  More woe for the #66 Toyota Supra as well.  That car came out of pit lane from the start but could be having mechanical issues.  Romain Monty and Antoine Potty could have a short day ahead of them today.  Romain Monti is 46th in the overall and seven seconds behind everyone else.  Clumps of traffic everywhere on the circuit.  Last year, that car was a championship contender last year when Antoine Potty was sharing it with fellow Belgian, the very experienced Stephane Lemeret.  The sister #8 Supra for CMR is running considerably better.  That is another all-French lineup for Etienne Cheli sharing with Corentin Surand.  Cheli is all over Hendrik Still, the German, driving the #38 W&S Motorsports Porsche Cayman.  Still shares that car with countryman Max Kronburg.  Two German drivers in a German car for a German team.  

Andy Noah is in the pit lane and is under investigation for speeding through there, by the stewards.  We are now keeping an eye in 13th place on the veteran Anthony Beltoise aboard the #21 Pro Am Audi R8 GT4 for Sainteloc Racing that he shares in another all-French duo, alongside Olivier Esteves.  Another car off the road and back on, dipping the wheel into the gravel.  Anthony Belotise's dad, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, was a Formula 1 legend and still is.  Another good battle is brewing here, look, between #14 Roee Meyuhas in another Sainteloc Audi R8 GT4 and Alex Fontana who is driving the #718 Porsche Cayman.  That is an all-Swiss team for Centri Porsche Ticino.  Fontana sharing with Ivan Jacoma.  Fontana is defending from the Audi.  He is taking a step back from GT3 to GT4.  GT3 cars have more power, and more downforce.  

Jim Pla is one of the few drivers in this race who has been able to drive both a GT3 and a GT4 spec car and can swap back and forth easily between the two.  Team manager to the steward's office for the #7 car.  No tea and cookies for you, sunbeam.  Please explain to us why your car has been off the road.  Peter Roberts' GT4 Europe steward's chairman will welcome him into the room and say, "OK, this is what you've done, and now you'll have to pay the price for it.  We are going to have to penalize you and your team."  For 12th place, Anthony Beltoise makes his way past Etienne Cheli.  One of the Aston Martin's for Racing Spirit of Leman gets a wriggle on and nearly slides off the road!  That is the #19 car of British driver Tom Canning, sharing with Indian driver Akhil Rabindra.  He has one of the Audi's right on his six.

Through Tosa once again.  Canning is being chased down by Greg Guillvert in the third of the Sainteloc entries, car #42 he is sharing with Fabien Michal.  Yet another all-French duo.  Gregory Guillvert is right behind Tom Canning's Aston Martin going through Acqua Minerale.  Canning cannot pass.  Roman Monti is catching the rest of the field but is down in 46th.  Six laps into race one of the weekend and we still have Vincent Andronaco leading Jim Pla as we see Alex Fontana in Audi #14 running eighth overall.  Fontana still has Israeli driver Roee Meyuhas all over him in one of the omnipresent Sainteloc Audi's.  Meyuhas passes and  now, Kenton Koch gets the better of Pierre Louis Chouvet in the battle of the Aston Martin's!  All this and we are merely 12 minutes into the action.  Goodness gracious.  GT4 European Series.  Check it out!  This is good racing!  

After uncorking the fastest lap of the motor race, in fourth spot is Konstantin Lachenauer, and he is pulling away.  Chouvet wants by Koch in the uphill turn at Piratella, and some argy bargy between the two of them!  Oh man oh man!  This is hot racing folks.  Don't touch that dial.  There's plenty more where this came from!  Crunch!  Another hit between Koch and Chouvet!  Somehow these two are not going to be sharing a bowl of pasta at dinner this evening.  No Christmas card exchange either.  Chouvet makes the pass and Kenton Koch has to go back to ye olde drawing board.  This is a good scrap between the Aston Martin and the Alpine A110.  That is the balance between these cars.  The Aston Martin has more power while the Alpine is more nimble and lighter weight.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes is fast approaching in the hands of Lluc Ibanez.  He says "they're having a party, and they didn't invite me!"  Koch might not have the pace through Rivazza and into Tamburello.  But he is hanging right in there with the Alpine.  We also have the Mercedes AMG GT4 and the Porsche Cayman.  All these cars are totally different in size, engine configuration, engine placement, and where they make their speed on the road.  That is the beauty of GT racng and sports car racing in general.  We say it time and time again, but it is so true.  Simon Gachet slicing his way through traffic.  Konstantin Lachenauer passes Simon Gachet now that he isn't wadded up in the battle with Kenton Koch.  Spirit by Leman is out of Switzerland and new to GT4 Europe.  

The pack is tightening together because we can see that behind Chovet and Koch, Ibanez, Fontana, Meyhus, they are all gaining and so is the tenth-place car of Nico Verdonck who is another experienced SRO GT3 racer.  Verdonck in another Aston Martin, car #25 for the Belgian PROsport Racing team.  Verdonck sharing the car with countryman Rodrigue Gillion.  Vincent Andronaco and Jim Pla remain half a second apart.  The lead battle between the Cayman and the AMG has not changed and that is why we are focused on this mid pack scrum with so many cars clustered together.  We will have to see how the pace goes with the second drivers stepping in for the second stint of the motor race.  Kenton Koch, becoming familiar with Imola, is putting in an impressive race.  We have been racing now for 15 minutes.  45 minutes left on the board.

Jean Luc Beaubelique will take over for Jim Pla on the pit stops and Vincent Andronaco will hand the #22 Cayman to Andreas Mayrl.  Ibanez passes Koch for sixth place.  Kenton Koch wants to pass Lluc Ibanez but has not had luck in doing so yet.  Kenton Koch is fine throughout the lap here at Imola, but he loses time into corner one at Tamburello.  GT4 took a few years to kick in but now it is healthy both in Europe and in the states.  Yellow flag in sector one.  We are still focusing really on the lead battle.  More misery for Andy Noah.  Car #7 is unlucky today.  It says he is stopped on the road, and we will be going to Full Course Yellow right now.  Full Course Yellow.  Full Course Yellow, as Steve Burns, Race Director, clicks the radio.   You want more drama?  We've got it.  Some teams got the FCY message and others did not.  We have a car that has just clattered into the back of another and both have gone off the road into the gravel trap.

Two cars off the road, one more with damage, and a loose wheel.  There is debris and liquid on the road as well.  Big damage to the right rear corner of the #29 car.  This is the second of the two Alpine's entered for French team Mirage Racing.  Another French duo with Vincent Beltoise and Matteo Herrero.  The sister #28 car is shared by Frederic de Brabant and Alban Lagrange.  Matteo Herrero was at the controls of the #29 running 17th.  The #24 car is also involved and we can identify that one as the sister PROsport Racing Aston Martin for Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann.  More cars were skittering into the gravel when the Full Course Yellow was called.  The #51 Mercedes AMG GT4 survives.  This is the second of the three NM Racing cars, for the Spanish team.  Jakub Knoll from the Czech Republic sharing with Spaniard Filip Vava.  That car escapes.

But Hugo Sasse could not slow down, and he got launched over the fender of the Cayman!  Holy cow!  That was wild.  Sasse clips the rear end of the Cayman using the fender as a ramp and launches halfway into the air!  Yikes!  Full Course Yellow.  The trac cleanup will take a while.  So, we can catch our collective breath here.  Those cars that just wrecked were in 16th, 17th, and 18th spot.  Where oh where, is the #7 Aston Martin?  That is the car we've been searching for in this mess befoe the three car melee happened.  This will dovetail right with the pit stop window, will the safety car scramble.  The pit window during the safety car is going to make a pig's breakfast of everything.  The lane will be very crowded with 30+ cars still on the road.  

What will Race Director Steve Burns do?  We'll see.  Adam Carroll may also be in strife.  He is in one of the Greystone GT McLaren's, the #47 he shares with fellow Brit Tim Whale.  Now, Graystone GT has two cars on the season entry list but only one is in the race here at Imola.  Their second car is a To Be Announced entry for later on.  Still under Full Course Yellow.  That car could also have a transponder glitch.  Vincent Andronaco continues to lead.  We are set to swap over to the safety car procedure and a delayed pit window.  Under the safety car, the pace can increase.  Pit window opening delayed until the green flag comes back out.  Safety cars breed safety cars.  Such an obvious truth.  The pit window will remain as a ten minute duration.

Major damage to one of the Alpine's.  Game over.  The incident is under investigation by the stewards and there was another one set up for turn five.  We have had two incidents with a cleared circuit for the most part.  The safety car deployment was a wise idea.  The order is pretty well set.  But we have yet to move to safety car procedure, waiting for the safety car driver to flip on the lights.  For the moment, the cars are strung all around the circuit and we are just nearly halfway home.  The cars can accelerate as we are under safety car procedure.  Hopefully we have one long crocodile.  We were expecting rain, but, it has not arrived in full, thank goodness.  A gorgeous evening here in Emilia Romagna.  Soon, there will be wholesale driver changes.

Ah.  A punctured tire for the #50 BMW M4 GT4.  This is a car that yours truly cannot find on the entry list.  Maybe it was a late entry.  Nope.  Wrong number on the entry list.  This car was originally labeled #71 and then the number got switched to #50.  So, this is the W&D Racing Team from San Marino in a BMW M4 GT4 with San Marino based driver Paolo Meloni sharing alongside Italian Massimiliano Tressoldi.  Pit window will open at the restart for mandatory stops.  So we have to wait for the safety car which will be in this lap according to the Race Director.  Paolo Meloni is trundling to the lane and then has to do a regular stop after the emergency service.  The field is not bunched up by any stretch.  

Vincent Andronico is the leader with 32 minutes on the board.  Vince Andronico is surely going to try and get the jump over Jim Pla.  Let's see what happens.  Jim Pla is getting stymied by the safety car.  We are set to go back to racing, crawling down to Rivazza.  Green flag and we are back racing.  Pit window open.  Andronico leads Pla, Lachenauer, Gachet, Chovet, and Ibanez.  Two cars dive for pit lane.  Greg Guillvert and Berkay Besler both pit.  Guilvert should hand the car to Fabien Michal and Besler will swap to William Burns.  Yes.  The first few cars have hit the lane and we have an Alpine rallycrossing through Villeneuve.  That's Chovet and he gets passed by Kenton Koch and now, has Alex Fontana up his tailpipe.  

Hip and shoulder between the Alpine and the Porsche.  That's not going to go well, fellas.  Fontana won't take that lying down.  Game over for Adam Carroll with a suspected busted suspension system.  He and Tim Whale will be back for the next race tomorrow.  Andronaco has lapped traffic ahead.  Konstantin Lachenauer is improving big style and he is right on the back of Jim Pla for second spot.  Pla is gift wrapping more distance, more breathing space for Andronico.  Koch loses a place through Tosa, again.  Greg Guilvert under investigation for speeding in the lane by the marshals.  He lost a place to Will Burns' BMW M4 GT4.  Jim Pla and Konstantin Lachenauer continue to squabble over second place.  

The top four cars stay out.  Pit window open.  No takers in the top seven.  Side by side battle for second between Pla and Lachenauer.  Lachenauer to second on the inside, through Tamburello.  Massive amounts of traffic ahead.  Fontana slices his way through the traffic and specifically the Mercedes #61 for AKKA ASP of father and son Mauro and Benjamin Ricci, from Belgium.  Jim Pla gets balked by a lapped Audi.  Cannot tell the number or the colors to designate what team that one is on.  Lachenauer holds off Pla.  Gus Bowers will take the Aston Martin to the end, while Jean Luc Beaubelique, I believe will be handed the #87 Mercedes Benz.  Lachenauer meantime, pits from second spot.  Mentioning Bowers, he has pole for race two.  

Pla and Gachet now fighting for second at AKKA ASP/Akkodis ASP.  Chauvet brings the Alpine to the lane.  The Allied Racing Porsche of Andronaco is leading the motor race over Pla, Gachet, and the rest.  Where do the dominos fall with pit strategy?  Gus Bowers, Pierre Louis Chauvet, they are in the lane.  Chauvet hands the seat over to countryman Johan Boris Scheier.  Pla and Gachet dive through Rivazza, slicing through lapped traffic as Andronico is in the lane and Jim Pla takes the race lead.  Pla and Gachet get a brief lead.  In the leading Porsche Cayman, Andreas Mayrl takes over for the final 19 minutes.

Overtaking leaving the pit lane, one of the Mercedes' on the sole Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R in the race.  That is the #17 V8 Racing entry for Dutchman Dante Rappange and Belgian Kenny Herremans.  #22 finishes it's pit stop.  #10 which pitted earlier, has a clear road.  Gus Bowers is in the car, the race two polesitter.  Bowers had a good pit stop.  Andreas Mayrl is getting up to speed.  Pla and Gachet pit.  They've left it to the last possible moment, so, Jim Pla should hand over to Jean Luc Beaubelique and Simon Gachet to Eric Debard.  These are two of the four AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT4's.  ASP is Jerome Policand's team Auto Sport Promotions.

In replay, we can see Jim Pla giving the BMW M4 GT4 a shove into the barriers and doing lots of damage.  That is the #11 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport car, a Turkish team with Turkish drivers.  Jason Tahincioglu sharing with Yagiz Gedik.  Open the can and peel off the whole rear bumper of the car.  Is this the time machine?  Nope.  Sorry, that one's the can opener.  Try the other door.  That same thing happened in the Emilia Romgna F1 race last year between Nikita Mazepin and Nicolas Latifi.  So, Gus Bowers seems to be running quicker than Andreas Mayrl.

The leaders work their way past car #26 which is the French team of Benoit Lison and Cyril Saleilles for Team Fullmotorsport in one of their Audi R8 LMS GT4's.  #81, Eric Debard is fifth as the #15 has split both ASP Benzes.  That is the NM Racing Team Mercedes of Lluc Ibanez and Enzo Joulie.  Mega slide there for Gus Bowers!  Yikes!  He keeps his foot in it.  Joulie is reeling in the leaders and bringing the gap down as two team bosses are summoned to the Race Control office for speeding in the lane.  Sign a document for saying thanks for my penalty.  Sign on the X, please.  

Gus Bowers goes through and takes the lead of the motor race.  That overtake out of Acqua Minerale and up the hill was a piece of cake.  How are we seeing the Ibanez/Joulie duo up in fifth spot?  That's peculiar.  Bowers in the lead of the motor race.  He drove a second tier McLaren for United Autosports in 2021.  Jouillet is far quicker than Mayrl.  Beaubelique is passed by Johan Boris Scheier and Erwan Bastard in the #14 Sainteloc Audi is pushing as well.  Full Course Yellow and more woe for the #66.  This is the CMR Toyota Supra off the road another time.  Antoine Potty is stopped on the road or has spun off.

Potty only took the car over two or three laps ago and he is at Acqua Minerale.  Potty could very well have been assisted off the road.  This Full Course Yellow could become a safety car.  The other car caught up in this fracas with Antoine Potty is the #80 AGS Events Aston Martin of Tom Verdier, another Frenchman.  Verdier has shared that car today with Englishman, Ruben del Sarte.  Another Full Course Yellow with less than 12 minutes on the board.  Gus Bowers has a pack of hungry wolves behind him going for the win.  Mayrl, Joulie, Nabuurs, Scheier, Beaubelique, Bastard, Jacoma, Rabindra, and Debard, the top ten.

#80 ran wide at Piratella after something broke on the car.  That left front wheel is broken.  He ran over the curb and broke the suspension.  So the Toyota and Aston Martin incidents are completely separate.  The clock continues to tick.  Ten minutes and change to go.  Beaubelique and Debard both got snookered.  Another investigation coming from the stewards and that is car #76.  This is another French team with an Alpine A110 GT4.  Bodemer Auto with Jean Charles Redele at the wheel of it, sharing with GT3 veteran Gregoire Demoustier.  Demoustier has run his stint for this race it seems.  We have the safety car on track.

Tire pressures and temps are dropping.  Safety car procedure.  Safety car in this lap.  That was quick.  Steve Burns, Race Director, makes the call.  He stewards the eSports competition for this series as well.  We will have five and a half minutes to go, so about three laps.  Gus Bowers should have a clear road ahead.  Bowers absolutely leaves Mayrl in the dust!  Time penalties added to the end of the race for Greg Guillvert and others.  Enzo Joulie spins the #15 Mercedes after tagging the Aston Martin of Thijmen Nabuurs!  Holy guacamole!  Both these chaps are off the track, and can they refire their motors before we have either another safety car or we just end this thing like the GT2 event was yesterday.

The Alpine of Johann Boris Scheier moves up.  Reshuffle the deck, again.  Naburs tried avoiding contact but he was not given a bit of space.  Full Course Yellow in 20 seconds because they are in a dangerous spot.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow, now.  This is the third of this motor race.  Good grief.  We just might not have time before we aare supposed to end this thing.  The motor race that wouldn't end.  I don't think we are going to get this race restarted.  The #4 Mercedes AMG GT4 is stranded out there on track.  That is the Drago Racing Team ZVO car.  Robert Haub of Germany currently driving, has been sharing the car with Gabriela Jilkova from the Czech Republic.  

The car might overheat if the field runs behind the safety car.  This is going to take us to the end without restarting the race because there is just one snatch vehicle.  That's too bad the Aston will just hold station, and we aren't going to get this motor race restarted.  Gus Bowers seems to have made the pass at the perfect time.  Eric Debard in car #81 fell down to 12th.  He was fourth in Pro-Am and is now seventh.  This is the final lap and the race will finish under Full Course Yellow.  Thanks, Steve Burns.  You can't have the race going on while the marshals are working.  The grid for tomorrow's race will be in a totally shuffled order with the same drivers but the co-drivers start tomorrow's race.  Potential for rain overnight and we could have a damp track.

The checkered flag is out.  Gus Bowers and Konstantin Lachenauer win race one.

Overall/Silver: #10 Lachenauer/Bowers     Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT4

             Pro Am: #22 Andronaco/Mayrl      Allied Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR

             Am: #69 Hamon/Blanchemain       Team Fullmotorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4

So, some unexpected class winners and a wild finish to race one of the weekend, for GT4 Europe at Imola.  Tune in tomorrow for race two.  Let's hope it is a wee bit more organized, and maybe yours truly will be more aware of drivers, teams, and cars, but still will need the trusty entry list to go by.  Arriva derci from Italy for now, everyone.  Take care.  See you tomorrow.

   



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