Round 3 - San Marino (Imola)

SEMI-PRO SERIES

Qualifying
Starting Grid
Race Report
Finishing Order
Race Statistics
Driver Comments
Download Mixed Logfile
Ace Results

1996/97 Pole Position:	1:19.177 (Marcel Offermans)
1996/97 Race Time:	0h45m02.054 (Marcel Offermans)
Race Distance:	31 laps

Qualifying

Mathieu Dhondt and Barry West had their first appearance in the Semi-Pro series at Imola. It should be mentioned that San Marino 1997/98 is the first Semi-Pro event where the field was so big that some drivers didn't gain points in qualifying. With now 14 competitors, the Semi-Pro series has grown to a remarkable size and the fact that the competition is not only big but also close, satisfies the IAF1GPC administration :-)

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Points
1.	David Zasitko	S.RS Turbo	1:17.340		20
2.	Gary Leighton	S.RS Turbo	1:17.365	+0.025	16
3.	Matthew Garrett	Team AP	1:17.556	+0.216	14
4.	Giacomo Licciardello	Mopar	1:17.652	+0.312	12
5.	James Caygill	Team AP	1:17.663	+0.323	10
6.	Mathieu Dhondt	Exhaust Hype	1:17.677	+0.337	8
7.	Gavin Mclean	GJM Racing	1:18.020	+0.680	6
8.	Christian Tavlaridis	Dick Dastardly Racing	1:18.106	+0.766	5
9.	Chris Andrews	FraewTraew	1:18.205	+0.865	4
10.	Paul Branney	Dick Dastardly Racing	1:19.309	+1.969	3
11.	Garry McCandless	GJM Racing	1:19.403	+2.063	2
12.	Barry West	Bazzer	1:19.913	+2.573	1
13.	Ron Vance	Mopar	1:20.666	+3.326
14.	Olivier Leroy	Cyber-Speed	1:20.824	+3.484

Race

Unlike the Ace event, the top positions in the Semi-Pro race weren't awarded before the last lap. The first 14 laps were dominated by Giacomo Licciardello, but his lead was at no point bigger than 10 seconds. Gavin McLean and Gary Leighton were closing the gap and passed the leading Mopar driver in lap 15. After Gavin and Gary made their stops, Gary was leading the race and his team mate was battling for 2nd with Giacomo and Matthew Garrett. Gavin fell back in the last third of the race and even lost 5th place in the very last lap to Christian Tavlaridis. In the last laps it looked like Matthew would be able close the gap to the leading GJM driver, he decreased the gap from 20 seconds in lap 27 to 8 seconds in lap 30 but a fastest lap at the end secured Gary another victory.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Points
1.	Gary Leighton	S.RS Turbo	43m09.109		180
2.	Matthew Garrett	Team AP	43m18.277	+0:09.168	170
3.	Giacomo Licciardello	Mopar	43m30.369	+0:21.260	165
4.	David Zasitko	S.RS Turbo	43m36.789	+0:27.680	160
5.	Christian Tavlaridis	Dick Dastardly Racing	43m37.939	+0:28.930	155
6.	Gavin Mclean	GJM Racing	43m41.453	+0:32.344	151
7.	Mathieu Dhondt	Exhaust Hype	44m01.019	+0:51.910	147
8.	Chris Andrews	FraewTraew	44m34.125	+1:25.016	143
9.	James Caygill	Team AP	44m43.040	+1:33.931	139
10.	Ron Vance	Mopar	45m58.942	+2:49.833	135
11.	Olivier Leroy	Cyber-Speed	21 laps	(67.7%)	89
12.	Garry McCandless	GJM Racing	16 laps	(51.6%)	66

Race Statistics

Pos	Car	Driver	Fastest Lap		LL/TL	Pitstops		Avg. Grip	Tyre Usage
Pos	Car	Driver	Time	Lap #	LL/TL	Stops	Avg. Length	Avg. Grip	C	D
1.	13	G.Leighton	1:18.974	31	20/31	2	0:15.072	93		31
2.	3	M.Garrett	1:19.083	26	0/31	1	0:16.493	93		31
3.	43	G.Licciardello	1:19.958	27	10/31	0		92		31
4.		D.Zasitko	logfile missing
5.	0	C.Tavlaridis	1:19.487	29	0/31	1	0:23.525	93		31
6.	32	G.McLean	1:20.976	28	1/31	0		92		31
7.	9	M.Dhondt	1:20.751	8	0/31	0		92		31
8.	17	C.Andrews	1:20.913	28	0/31	0		92		31
9.	4	J.Caygill	1:19.660	30	0/31	1	0:41.381	93		31
10.	44	R.Vance	1:20.227	30	0/31	3	0:36.859	93		31
11.	27	O.Leroy	1:24.727	19	0/21	1	0:48.068	93	5	16
12.	31	G.McCandless	1:22.024	15	0/16	2	0:54.169	93		16

What the drivers said about the race

Gary Leighton (S.RS Turbo), Race winner:
"A few practice races showed that I would have problems during the real race because of slow CC's. But to my surprise and as mentioned in the imola preview this is a track for CC's to crash out and they did! Thankfully it was during the earlier stages enabling me to take full advantage of the clear track in front of me. I was getting good quick times, maybe pitted a little late since I was storming towards the end of the race, despite a few poor laps when I fell victim to that nasty chicane."

Gary McCandless (GJM Racing), 12th:
"I had a nice start, pulled away from the pack at a good pace. Needed to a new front end by lap 8 then again on lap 9. Started to catch up with the leaders getting up into 4th. Then a young man by the name of Damon Hill tried to out brake me, instead he just pushed me of the track into another car. Race over, bad day at the office."

Last modified: Sunday 07 December 1997 - 10:39