The 12th running of the âśTrofeo del Granducatoâť was held this year on January 6/7. This is a national race that is always attended by a lot of racers and has a very high racing level. For this event, all of the 79 drivers found brand new carpet and a nice new challenging track. As usual, three categories were scheduled: Open, 27-turn, and Stock with Mabuchi motors.
On Saturday practice, XRAY Italian team drivers hit the track to find the best setup and to help other XRAY racers. The T2â™007 worked very well on this track, with the only problems being the âśhairyâť new carpet that is very hard on bearings⦠but as the race went on the problem seemed to go away.
On Sunday we had three rounds of qualifications after which it was team driver Guido Barbera that claimed TQ ahead of Costanzo and Marletta. In 4th and 5th positions were the other two XRAY team drivers, Giuseppe de Liguori and Marco Gennari.
At the start of the finals I knew I would have a chance to win because my car was very stable and easy to drive, and this makes it a good weapon on the fast and twisty track. I was correct. After 3 minutes I was able to catch the leader and I ended up winning the first final with a good gap ahead of Costanzo.
In the second final it was almost the same story. Iâ™d caught the leader in the middle of the race but this time I was strongly challenged by Marco Gennari. I was able to stay in the lead though with only a very narrow gap on him. I won the final and the race.
(click to enlarge)
In the third and last final I had some traffic problems and wasnâ™t able to fight for the first position while Gennari was chasing hard Costanzo in the lead, but time expired before he was able to catch him so this final was won by Costanzo ahead of Marco.
We should also remark on the very bad luck of Barbera in the finals, which kept him out of the fight for the win.
So after these challenging finals, here was the final verdict for the Open class:
1 G. de Liguori XRAY T2â™007
2 C. Costanzo 3 M. Gennari XRAY T2â™007
4 D. Marletta 5 R . Noce XRAY T2
6 M. Doveri 7 G. Barbera XRAY T2â™007
8 M. Taddei
9 Menicucci 10 F. Rutigliani XRAY T2â™007
Stock Class
1 A. Salce 2 M. Rossi XRAY T2
3 F.Pucci
27 Turn
1 M. Fabiani 2 V. Cola XRAY T2â™007
3 D. Macchioni
