Photo credit: Maserati/GrimFoto
Abu Dhabi (UAE), 12 December 2014 – Romain Monti and Mauro Calamia took the first two races disputed at Abu Dhabi in this weekend’s final round of the Maserati Trofeo World Series. Race 3, the endurance event, will be run tomorrow.
Race 1 saw Mauro Calamia, who has already secured the title, get the better of Giorgio Sernagiotto in what was a breathtaking finish. Just as things were drawing to a close, the Swiss star was forced to stop at trackside to reset his transmission. Even so, Calamia managed take this hiccup in his stride and catch the lead man, Sernagiotto. He made short work of reclaiming top spot and powered to victory. Also on the podium was Monti, making his first ever appearance in the series. Fourth went to Lino Curti, who has seemed at home at Abu Dhabi all weekend. Behind him came Mario Cordoni and Mauro Trentin.
Photo credit: Maserati/GrimFoto
Two crashes shaped the second 30’ race (in the night): the first came at turn one and involved Giuseppe Fascicolo, Lino Curti (forced to pull out), Carlo Curti, Mario Cordoni and a few other cars. The incident saw the safety car called out and shuffled the pack. Now Monti found himself leading, ahead of Andreas Segler, Mark Turley, Iazzetti and Calamia. The restart, on lap 3, saw the champion brilliantly snatch second spot while Turley edged past Segler. Things ran smoothly before the safety car was again needed after Cordoni smashed into the barriers, fortunately without injury. As the minutes ticked by and with 75% of the race already run, the officials called time, handing victory to Monti. Calamia classified second and Segler third. In reality, the race order at the finish was Turley third and Niklas Lilja fourth but they were later disqualified with a drive through (converted into a 25 second penalty) for overtaking when the safety car was on. This meant that fourth went to Iazzetti from Stephane Panepinto, Simone Marchetti, Patrick Zamparini, Guy Fawe, Massimo Mantovani and Roberto Ragazzi.
The 60’ endurance event, the season’s last, will take place tomorrow, Saturday 13 December. It is timed for 15.15 (local time).
Romain Monti (Race 1 winner): “I am pleased to have got the win but disappointed that there were so many accidents that conditioned the outcome. Honestly, I didn’t realise what happened at the start. There were a lot of clashes and I found myself out front. When the safety car left the stage I focused on seeing out the race and ended up winning when the race was cut short”.
Mauro Calamia (Race 2 winner): “It was a crazy start with lots of drivers coming together and lots of retirements. I had to drive off the track to avoid getting caught up in it all and ended up in fifth after starting in pole. I managed to get past the drivers ahead of me at the restart and was tracking Monti. He was really quick but my gearbox was spot on so it’s hard to say how things would have turned out if the red flag hadn’t been shown. Let’s see how what happens in tomorrow’s final race”.
Race 1 result: 1 Mauro Calamia – 30:45.474 2 Giorgio Sernagiotto – 30:46.668
3 Romain Monti – 30:47.193
Race 2 result: 1 Romain Monti – 23:34.551 2 Mauro Calamia – 23:35.076
3 Andreas Segler – 23:37.122