Imola – A good start to the season

The week started horribly early for a race weekend. We had to travel on Tuesday to start testing on Wednesday, with nothing happening on Thursday and back to test on Friday afternoon. The length of the circuit at Imola is just below 5km. 

GOLD – The new categorie

Imagine 52 cars trying to find space to run their setup and speed. It was difficult. This year the championship created a new category: GOLD. It consists of one gold driver, a sliver and bronze. The “AM” class, which consisted of 3 bronze drivers has ended. So this year we have 4 car categories: PRO, GOLD, SILVER and PRO-AM. Each has its own driver line-up. In SILVER, you only have silvers, whereas in PRO-AM, you have a pro and two bronze drivers. The team opted for the new category, GOLD, this year. We had a good test and pre-qualifying session, and the car was well setup for qualifying. 

A good result but still improvment needed

It was decided to first put a fast driver (Adam) in Q1, then me and then other fast driver (Ben) in Q3. It went really well, as we qualified pace 3rd in class, out of 13 cars, and 27th overall, so right in the middle of the pack of wolves! To maximize our chances Adam was to take the start. We had a good race pace and leading our class when it was time for me to jump in the car – I drove the last stint. Unfortunately, a number of safety cars during my stint caused us to lose the lead and then more places. We did finish 5th in class. It’s a good result. Will take it, but I personally need to improve and close the gap! Our next race is not before June 3rd, save the date ! It leaves us time to prepare. 

BTW: if you cannot recognize that car, that’s okay.  We were to expected to race the new BMW M4 GT3, but changed to the Audi R8 GT3.  

… Karim