After almost a year (it was July 2022, Mugello) Matteo Malucelli returned to conquer a pole position in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia. In race 1 of the second round, this afternoon the expert driver from Forlì will start in front of everyone with Iaquinta at his side, who is almost 3 tenths behind in qualifying thanks to the new record of the 911 GT3 Cup “992” on the Roman circuit: 1’34”163 (a tenth better than Quaresmini’s pole 2022).
The standard bearer of Team Malucelli has the merit of having been the only top driver to be able to find such a consistent improvement between the first and second set of new Michelins fitted this morning.
Matthew, how did you do it?
“I had some margin, I knew where to improve with the second set, fortunately it also went well with the traffic. I must however say that in both attempts everyone was very correct, the traffic was never a problem. The car was fine , but when we’re all so close, losing a tenth is very easy…”.
How do you approach this race 1 now? You have to make up for last year’s early departure here…
“Actually last year I started too well (smiles, ed)! Let’s say that the goal is to start well and maintain the position, then let’s see what happens during the race.”
How important is this weekend within this season?
“All weekends are equally important. We were very fast in the first race, perhaps more than here in Vallelunga, but we were unable to finish due to unexpected problems with the car (brake master cylinder in qualifying, ed). For us now it is important to collect points and try to come back from here with as many points as possible.”
While Malucelli was receiving the recognition that the main sponsor Q8 Hi Perform awards for pole position, news also arrived in the paddock of a penalty inflicted on Enrico Fulgenzi for “impeding” Giorgio Amati right in the qualifying races.
The driver from Jesi will discount two positions on today’s starting grid (he qualified with the 17th fastest time). A penalty dating back to Misano, that of the 8 positions to be served on the grid imposed on Lorenzo Ferrari, however, will cause Fulgenzi to slip to 18th position instead of 19th. The young man from Piacenza, on the other hand, will start from 21st.
