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| May 2, 2016 | |
| ALBERTO CERQUI CLOSE TO THE PODIUM IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE ITALIAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP 2016 IN MONZA | |
| 02/05/2016 - Alberto Cerqui had a positive debut in the Italian GT Championship 2016 in Monza. BMW Team Italia's driver ended close to the podium in race one, thanks to a strong performance that placed him among the protagonists of Super GT3.
The first weekend of the season has been quite exciting for the driver from Brescia and co-equiper Stefano Comandini, that had the honour to take the new BMW M6 GT3 to the track. Cerqui ended the second practice session six tenths short of the quickest time, despite he did not have much track time on the car ahead of the race of Monza. BMW works driver confirmed his pace in Q1 putting in a great 1'47.584, lap that was worth the third row and the purple sector one. In race one, the melee of the start and a hard overtaking move by Mul saw Cerqui losing some positions. The Italian driver managed anyway to get the most out of the safety car period filling the gap from the top and installing himself in P3 before handing the car over to Comandini. The pit stop shuffled cards a bit and BMW lineup just missed out on the podium ending fourth absolute. Race two started under safety car due to the very wet circuit. Comandini got off from the fourth row but the rain turned things upside down compared to what seen on Saturday and the car turned out to be less reactive. A penalty due to cutting the first chicane slowed down the team and Cerqui tried to make the most of the racing conditions collecting some important data to refine the setup on the wet. Alberto Cerqui: "Overall I had positive sensations. The car is very quick in fast sectors, and we had good indications both on single laps and on race pace. The BMW M6 GT3 is still young, there is still loads to understand and improve, but we just missed out on the podium and have been very quick in qualifying. There is a bit of regret on the outcome of race two as Stefano has also been very competitive throughout the weekend and we could have hauled something more". The Italian GT Championship will resume from the circuit Enzo e Dino Ferrari of Imola next 28-29 May. | |