Race 1 of Campionato Italiano Sport Prototipi at Mugello Circuit it is done. Giacomo Pollini brings it home from the pole position to the chequered flag, in a certainly complex race, with Matteo Roccadelli behind him gaining seconds. The driver from Vercelli has an exceptional pace, he sets fastest lap with 1'47, but he struggles to find the room, ending in P2. Third on the podium is Davide Uboldi, who keeps his ambitions for the Italian Championship alive. His car lacks panache, but his experience compensates and allows him to celebrate with champagne. Pole position in race 2 for CISP institution Joe Castellano, who will start alongside Andrea Mosca in an all-Master front row.
The race is exciting and full of twists and turns from the very beginning, with Matteo Roccadelli who loses something at the start, while Matteo Pollini's sprint is flawless and he gets P2 behind his cousin. Uboldi also passes in front and starts a tussle with Roccadelli with frequent exchanges of position. The fight is then between Filippo Lazzaroni and Jolan Raccamier, with the former gaining position by performing a spectacular overtaking move on the outside. Linus Hellberg, author of a very combative race, already in P7 after the fight with the Sicilian Alessio Salvaggio, tries to take advantage of the fight. His Wolf GB08 Thunder spins out and goes into the gravel. Raccamier also goes off the road, but immediately manages to restart, while for the Swede it is retirement. His position remains in the family, however, giving way to his brother Emil Hellberg.
Safety Car on the track, for a very quick recovery, Uboldi takes P2 over Roccadelli, forced to fight with Lazzaroni. The fight between the Masters was also very heated, with Steve Brooks gaining the lead over Andrea Mosca, with the class tussle also moving into the top 10 overall.
Matteo Pollini, steadily in P2, suffered a loss of power with his Wolf visibly slowing down, letting his rivals slip by, and ended the race with an unfortunate retirement. The top 3 then becomes: Giacomo Pollini, Davide Uboldi, Matteo Roccadelli.
Problems then for David Acosta Molina, who spun and ended up in the gravel, and Giovanni Maschio, already a protagonist in the Italian F.4 Championship and making his debut here at Mugello also in the CISP, who pulled over at the edge of the track. For Maschio, problems in qualifying had also made him start from the back, and he was the author of a good comeback race, managing to climb several positions before the final stop.
Among the 'rookies', Emanuele Romani's race was also good. He is back at the wheel of a prototype after his extensive experience in GT and having already raced in TCR Italy this year. He had a good run in the first part of the race, which brought him into the points zone, before losing positions in the final stages.
On the last restart, after the exit of the two young drivers, Steve Brooks, first among the Masters up to that point, misinterpreted the lights and sprinted well in advance, laterally passing all the competitors and taking the lead. Black flag to him, with the exclusion from the race. The French driver, however, did not seem to notice the flag and continued to stay on the track until the end, causing delays in the fight between the competing drivers. This briefly favours Pollini, who is the first to pass the excluded French driver and can thus build up a gap. In the meantime, Matteo Roccadelli regained P2 over Davide Uboldi with a spectacular overtaking move at Materassi, then, having also discarded Brooks, he put on the turbo and began to make up seconds on Pollini. At the chequered flag his gap was 5 tenths. P3 is contested between Uboldi and Lazzaroni, with the Como driver managing to get the better of them. The final order of arrival is: 1. G. Pollini; 2. Roccadelli; 3. Uboldi; 4. Lazzaroni; 5. E. Hellberg; 6. Mejia; 7. Mosca; 8. Castellano; 9. Mazza; 10. Spadaro; 11. Beatovic; 12. Romani; 14. Raccamier.
The classification podium remains unchanged, with Giacomo Pollini first at 124pt, followed by Davide Uboldi at 81pt, then Roccadelli who slightly shortens with 70pt.
Giacomo Pollini: 'It was a very hard race, especially towards the end. I got off to a good start, I got away well at the front. I was definitely not helped by the Safety Car. The last laps Roccadelli was coming up very strong, luckily the race was over, otherwise there was a risk he could pass me. For the Championship this win is great, I keep enlarging the gap and I will try to continue like this tomorrow and for the next races."
Matteo Roccadelli: "I had the pace right from the start, the point was to have the room to exploit it. With these cars, once you are under the rivals you lose a bit of aerodynamic load and, on tracks like this, it makes you lose time and you struggle to pass the others. Particularly in my case, as I found here and at Vallelunga, we have a bit less engine power. As a result, even if you gain something in the corners you then lose out due to the lack of load and also on the straight. I had to come up with a risky move, which I was wrong to do, because I risked throwing the race away. In the moment it came to me: before Casanova I slipped in on Uboldi. If there really had been one or two more laps I would have passed even Pollini with the pace I had. We'll make up for it in race 2."
Davide Uboldi: "Important podium because unfortunately I didn't have the car today. It never happens, but the car is very slippery, I can't drive as aggressively as I like. Let's say I took third place thanks to my experience, in terms of speed the others were faster than me. If it hadn't been for the restart with that car making a mistake I think I would have taken the lead, because I didn't have two opponents, but only one to take care of at the restart. Well done to Giacomo who took another win, the gap is widening, but I have to trust that I will do well in race two tomorrow. Then we go to my two tracks where I give that extra ten per cent, Imola and Monza."
Joe Castellano: "a great satisfaction because being in the top eight at Mugello is not easy. Tomorrow will be a great race because I start with the strong guys. The, strenght, the passion and enthusiasm are not lacking. We are still going strong!"
Now all that is missing is the grand finale of the weekend, with race 2 on Sunday 17 July at 9.00, live on TV on ACI Sport TV, channel Sky 228 and www.acisport.it, and streaming on Facebook and Youtube channels @cisprototipi.
