Cetilar Racing endured a tough race weekend at Fuji. The second of eight FIA WEC rounds ended with a P8 in the LMP2 category. After setting the eight lap-time in the Saturday’s qualifying, the AF Corse-powered #47 Dallara shared by Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Andrea Belicchi crossed once more the finish line.
After making its positive World Championship debut in the previous round at Silverstone, the sportscar made in Varano de’ Melegari paid some technical gap as well as unespected situations.
Lacorte took the start to complete a double stint withouth making mistakes, despite a rain-light problem forced him to make a pit-stop to replace the rear wing on lap 29 losing 40 seconds before handing over to Sernagiotto. The latter was able to manage well when the rain started to intensify. Then Belicchi did a triple final stint, losing one more lap as he made al last pit-stop to check the car.
“We alredy knew Fuji wasn’t our best track. The gap of the car forced us to push from lights to flag; that was not good”, Lacorte said, “The AF Corse staff gave its best. Furthermore the type “A” compound of the Michelin tires didn’t help us. In the pre-season test we had a good pace with the “C” compound, wich will be available in the next rounds.
“We must be patient”, Lacorte continued “Passion and heart moved us to make this choice, starting our FIA WEC challenge with an Italian car, the best team and a very good crew. Giorgio raced safely despite the difficult conditions. Andrea was really impressive too. I tried to do the best and, despite a 2-second slower car, I topped the Bronze drivers”.
The next round will be in Shanghai, China, on 9th/10th November.
Source. Cetilar Racing/Photo. Fabio Taccola
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