Coppa Italia wins at Mugello for Guastamacchia and Leonov
Mauro Guastamacchia and Evgenii Leonov shared victories in the season opener of the Coppa Italia Turismo on a wet Mugello circuit.
Guastamacchia and his Hyundai i30 N won Race1 on Saturday. The Agressive Team Italia’s driver started from P2 but was able to capitalize on his competitors’ troubles. Pole sitter Leonov was leading the race from the second lap in his CUPRA Leon Competición, after stealing the first position from Alfredo De Matteo, but in Lap 10 the Russian driver went off into the gravel and lost one lap. De Matteo had already dropped out from the race in the 7th lap, when his Calcagni Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG was stopped by a technical issue. The race finished behind the safety-car following an accident between two cars of another class, and Guastamacchia crossed the finishing line ahead of Adriano Visdomini’s Hyundai i30 N and Alberto Rodio’s Audi RS 3 LMS that won the DSG class; Walter Pugliese who had finished fourth in the second Golf run by Calcagni Motorsport was later demoted to sixth by a 25-second penalty for overtaking during the safety-car period.
Leonov made up for the disappointment in Sunday’s race, although he had to recover from 27th on the grid. The Russian moved up to fifth during the opening lap and took the lead from Guastamacchia two laps later. Guastamacchia didn’t give up and remained stuck on the tail of Leonov’s CUPRA, chasing him closely along the whole race and eventually finishing second, only 1.1 second behind.
Third and fourth places went to the Audi cars of Sandro Pelatti (BF Motorsport) and Carlotta Fedeli (RC Motorsport), with the lady driver emerging as the winner of the DSG class. Guastamacchia’s teammate, Ettore Carminati took fifth after starting 31st on the grid.
The next event of the Coppa Italia will be at Vallelunga, on May 8/9.
Race 1
1. Mauro Guastamacchia (Agressive Team Italia, Hyundai i30 N), 11 laps
2. Adriano Visdomini (Next Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 1.594
3. Alberto Rodio (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.484
Race 2
1. Evgenii Leonov (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 11 laps
2. Mauro Guastamacchia (Agressive Team Italia, Hyundai i30 N), 1.106
3. Sandro Pelatti (BF Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS), 30.539
Championship standings
1. M. Guastamacchia 16 pts; 2. E. Leonov 11; 3. A. Visdomini 6
Picture: Gruppo Peroni Race/Actualfoto
