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| October 9, 2017 | |
| ALBERTO CERQUI IS THE NEW ITALIAN SUPER GT3 CHAMPION IN MUGELLO | |
| 09.10.2017 - The final weekend of the season in Mugello has crowned Alberto Cerqui the new Italian Super GT3 Champion at the end of the Italian GT 2017 Championship. This result rewards the Italian driver at the end of an exciting season that has seen him on the absolute podium of the series several times.
BMW Team Italia's driver and his co-equiper Stefano Comandini achieved this target at the end of race-1 when they got the mathematical certainty of the title. Eight wins in fourteen rounds, a second and a third place, rewarded all the hard work done by the Italian driver in and out the race tracks with an important victory. The n.15 BMW M6 GT3 has been protagonist also in the closing weekend, despite some episodes prevented Cerqui to celebrate the title from a deserved podium. The performance shown in Mugello, after the pole position and victory scored in July, has been very high since practice. Cerqui has then put in a very good Q1 when he completed his best lap in 1'45.811s, that was the third quickest performance three tenths off the pole position time and a blink of an eye short of the front row. The Italian driver started race one as a real champion, defending his position at turn one and fending off the rivals. The race was soon interrupted by the safety car that compacted the group and Cerqui's BMW M6 GT3 suffered a problem to the fuel pump at the restart. Cerqui managed to keep P6, but right after the pit stop, Comandini had to retire, parking the car on the side of the track. Despite this early stop, BMW Team Italia was crowned Italian Super GT3 Champions at the end of race one and Cerqui added another prestigious result to his personal hall of fame. The great determination to celebrate the title with a good result in race-2 was unfortunately not enough. Comandini started the race from the fourth row of the grid as he qualified the car in eighth place, but an oil leak on lap eight forced the team to retire the car. Italian Gran Turismo 2017 Championship - Super GT3 Drivers classification 1. Cerqui Alberto - Comandini Stefano pt. 187; 2.Lorenzo Veglia pt. 186 3. Roberto Gentili - Marco Cassarà pt. 166; 4. Ishikawa Motoaki pt. 130; 5. Alain Valente pt. 99 Alberto Cerqui: "I am really very happy for achieving the goal we set ahead of ourselves at the beginning of the season. The level of rivals has been really high this year and it has not been easy, but eighth wins - six of which in the first six races - allowed us to show our supremacy and gave us the chance to manage our classification in the closing part of the season. I would like to thank the whole BMW Team Italia for the trust they always had in me and for the great work they completed to give me a very strong car. I cannot forget Scuderia Mirabella Mille Miglia that I am proud of having brought once again on top of classifications and all the sponsors that supported me. I will see you on track in 2018". | |