5 septembre 2015
Bacheta and Nalio victorious at Silverstone
The #6 Oregon Team pairing of Luciano Bacheta and Niccolò Nalio came up victors in the Renault Sport Trophy Endurance race at Silverstone this Saturday. Starting from pole, the duo led from start to finish to take their first win of the season ahead of David Fumanelli and Dario Capitanio (Oregon Team #8), who retain the lead in the general classification, and Indy Dontje and Toni Forné (ART Junior Team #3). Winner of the intermediate classification, Niccolò Nalio moved up to sixth place in the Prestige category dominated by Diederik Sijthoff (V8 Racing #5), fifth at the mid-way point in the race.
With the fastest time in qualifying reserved for Prestige drivers, Niccolò Nalio took the pole – his first – for the Endurance race ahead of Capitanio-Fumanelli and Forné-Dontje with the Prestige drivers starting the race.
Nalio in total control
Niccolò Nalio retained the lead at the start ahead of Dario Capitanio and Toni Forné. Behind them, Diederik Sijthoff overtook Andres Mendez (Zele Racing #11) and Chris Harris (Monlau Competicion #14) to move up to sixth place. Starting last, Richard Gonda (ART Junior Team #2) saw his comeback drive interrupted with a puncture on lap four. When Philippe Bourgois (Zele Racing #9) went off circuit, the safety car was deployed. Niccolò Nalio did the business at the re-start and took the 25 points up for grabs in the intermediate classification. He was followed by Dario Capitanio, Toni Forné, Max Braams (V8 Racing #4), Diederik Sijthoff and Chris Harris. Andres Mendez (Zele Racing #11), Jeroen Schothorst (Equipe Verschuur #10), Antonio Coimbra (Equipe Verschuur #1) and Adalberto Baptista (Oregon Team #7) rounded out the top ten after the retirement of Stefano Costantini (V8 Racing #45).
Bacheta brings it home
When time came to change drivers, Niccolò Nalio handed over to Luciano Bacheta, who joined the action with a three-second lead from David Fumanelli. Indy Dontje followed from a reasonable distance, while Roy Geerts (V8 Racing #4) was surprised by Nicky Pastorelli (V8 Racing #5), but re-took the position on the penultimate lap of the race. In the lead, Luciano Bacheta increased his lead from the field to go on for the win with a nine second margin of victory from David Fumanelli. Indy Dontje completed the podium ahead of Roy Geerts and Nicky Pastorelli. After having moved up to sixth place, Pieter Schothorst (Equipe Verschuur #1) had to give up and leave his place to Bas Schothorst (Zele Racing #11), who preceded Alan Hellmeister (Oregon Team #7) and Paul Loup Chatin (Monlau Competicion #14), who had to come back through the pits to close his right hand side door.
Quotes
Niccolò Nalio : “It has been an excellent day. We were not very lucky at Spa and the Hungaroring. We could attack like we wanted to, I finished my stint in the lead and we won the Endurance race. Everyone in the team did a great job and I am thrilled !”
Luciano Bacheta : “Winning at your home track always procures immense joy. This victory was my goal, but Niccolo did the majority of the work. We had to concentrate during the driver change and pit stop. Then, I strung together some good laps to widen the gap by attacking as much as I could. The team also did a fantastic job to give us an exceptional car.”
Provisional Endurance general classification * : 1. Fumanelli/Capitanio – 61 points, 2. Bacheta/Nalio – 55, 3. Reip – 37, 4. Dontje/Forne – 33, 5. Pizzitola/Gonda – 30…
Provisional Elite general classification* : 1. S. Schothorst – 75 points, 2. W. Reip – 45, 3. A. Pizzitola – 43, 4. V. Ghirelli – 35, 5ex. L. Bacheta & R . Geerts – 24…
Provisional Prestige general classification * : 1. D. Sijthoff – 62 points, 2. D. Capitanio – 51, 3. R. Gonda – 50, 4. T. Forné – 45, 5. M. Braams – 44…
*Subject to confirmation of the results following the technical and sporting verifications
