Press release 12/2022 06/06/2022
The second round of the season of the Italian GT Sprint Championship in Misano Adriatico is in the books. The Autorlando Sport team present with two cars lined up in the GT CUP and GT4 categories.
A weekend full of sunshine and summer temperatures, with a good influx of spectators at the racetrack, a sign of a renewed interest in GT cars and competitions.
The weekend got off to a good start for the Autorlando team who scored good times in free practice and immediately battled for the top positions. Even the new entry, the very young Antonio Macripo ‘, in his first official experience with GT cars, proves to deserve the seat of the 991 GT3 CUP given to him by Giuseppe Ghezzi from Trentino.
Excellent performance by the Cerati-Fondi crew with the Porsche Cayman RS GT4 in race 1, who conquered the second step of the podium. In race 2 they have to settle for third place finish. Pilot Comments:
Maurizio Fondi: “The first race was good, excellent pace and excellent car, my stint in race two was mortified by a series of continuous safety cars. However, I had a very good start, overtaking three cars including our rival Mercedes, a couple of reckless ones made me go out onto the lawn and lose the lead”.
Dario Cerati: “Race 1 was not bad despite everything, but I was disturbed by 2 Ferrari GT CUPs that made me lose contact with the Mercedes and therefore an anonymous stint. We took second and third place. However, I hope that the organizers can find a solution because managing 40 starters in different categories is not easy, especially for us drivers on the track”.
Fifth place for Macripo-Pichler in the 991 GT3 CUP in race 1. Performance conditioned by a race contact with another car that penalized the Autorlando Sport team car. Unfortunately, during the race, two of the debris on the track damaged the braking system causing it to go off the track which led to the retirement of the 991 GTCUP. The crew comments as follows:
Thomas Pichler: “Race 1 we started very well and the misuderstanding with Ferrari was not needed, Antonio to be his very first experience did very well. Too bad also for race 2, but we have excellent conditions to do better in the next races. “
Antonio Macripo: “Great work of the whole team to make my first GT race weekend special. A lot of concentration and hard work led to a good qualifying position, with a perfectly balanced and responsive car, capable of responding to the driver’s needs. The first results came in Race 1 with a good fifth position, despite it being my first time on the Misano circuit; unfortunately in Race 2 a brake system failure a few laps from the start forced the team to withdraw the car. Strong impact immediately and a lot of bitterness for not being able to finish the race. Fortunately, everything went well, avoiding injuries. There is a long way to go, a lot of work to do to be competitive, but with the right people I believe I can grow day by day, confident of being able to build a lasting partnership with the team”.
Now the Italian GT Sprint Championship is taking a break to return to the first weekend of September in Imola for the third round of the season. The Autorlando Sport team will continue to work hard during the summer break to be ready.
