published: 2010-05-31 17:54:51 (59507) Author: Oli M |
In-depth Final Report |
| The full run down of the 45 minutes of high speed racing action |
 After 4 intense rounds of qualification on Friday and Saturday and lower finals on Saturday and Sunday, it was at last time for the Grand Final of the 2010 Championships. The drivers were introduced onto the rostrum in their grid order to applause from the spectators and camera flashes from the various press members that had arrived to witness what promised to be a close and exciting final. |
| The drivers each drove a lap of the track individually to allow for more photographs to be taken, before the track was opened for a brief warm up session. The drivers were then called into the pits for refuelling, before being taken to the grid for the start of the 45 minute Grand Final. The grid lined up as follows: |
 1. Andrea Lorenzi (Italy) 2. Tim Wood (Great Britain) 3. Simon Kurzbuch (Switzerland) 4. John Ermen (Netherlands) 5. Andrea Ciurlante (Italy) 6. Alberto Tedeschi (Italy) 7. Sabrina Lechner (Germany) 8. Emanuele Comoglio (Monaco) 9. Maximilian Federmann (Germany) 10. Gerald Colinet (France) |
| The countdown began, the mechanics put the cars on the grid as the Monegasque flag touched the ground. The cars were released, the flag raised and we were off and racing. |
 Pole sitter Andrea Lorenzi took the lead whilst second place starter Tim Wood did not have a good opening lap and dropped to fourth. Going the other way to Tim was John Ermen, moving up to second from his fourth place starting position. Simon Kurzbuch maintained third through this position swapping and Alberto Tedeschi made up one place on his starting position by the end of lap 1. |
| A minute and a half into the race and John made a mistake which dropped him to 7th place. Simon moved up to second, and Alberto jumped Tim to move up to third. A minute later, Tim had worked his way up to the lead, pulling Emanuele Comoglio with him, leaving the top three as Tim, Emanuele and Andrea. John quickly recovered and moved back into the top 4 as the first round of pitstops approach, with Tim holding a lead of a few seconds. |
 Tim was the first to pit and just managed to hold the lead thanks to great work from his pitman, Serpent owner Michael Salven. Once the pitstops had been completed, Tim held a slight lead now from Andrea Lorenzi, John, Emanuele and Alberto. As the first ten minutes of the race ticked by, the second set of pitstops saw Andrea Lorenzi run out of fuel on his in-lap. Tim regained the lead, only a few car lengths ahead of John, Alberto and Andrea Ciurlante. The race passed quarter distance and John made a fantastic pass on Tim through the technical part of the infield but immediately dived into the pits. Tim came in a few laps later, handing the lead back to John. Just before one third distance, Alberto pitted and changed tires. Tire wear had been a worry with drivers finishing the 20 minute lower finals with hardly any rubber remaining. Emanuele also pitted at the same time. So with 15 minutes complete and 30 minutes remaining, the top five were, John, Tim, Andrea Ciurlante, Emanuele and Alberto. |
Andrea Lorenzi and John then pitted for tires, whilst Tim stopped for fuel only. Tim was hoping to run the race on just one tire stop, hoping his rubber would last him over 20 minutes per set, whilst the other leaders were going to stop twice for tires. Twenty minutes in, and Tim now held a lead of three quarters of a lap. He was still able to run laptimes comparable to the other top drivers and so at this point it looked like his strategy was going to pay off. At the half distance mark, Tim stopped for his tire change. |
 The 100 lap point was reached after 25 minutes of racing, at which point Tim led from Alberto and John. The second tire stop for those who needed it cycled around and at two thirds distance Tim had a healthy lead with John now back into second, Alberto third and Emanuele fourth. At this point, Tims car suddenly carried straight on through the twisty infield. Something had clearly broken and his car was returned to the pits, effectively taking him out of the running for the title. Speaking to Tim and Michael after the race, they reported the steering servo arm had come off, but acknowledged the car had run faultlessly throughout the race to that point and Tims driving and their pit strategy looked to have put him in a strong position for an almost certain victory. |
The pit stops continued with the order changing as drivers made their stops. Andrea Ciurlante lost some time as he ran out of fuel approaching the pits and Andrea Lorenzi cut leaving the pits and lost half a lap. With 10 minutes of the race remaining, Alberto had a lead of almost a whole lap from John and Emanuele, with Andrea Ciurlante a further lap back. |
 The race continued for the next few minutes with no major incidents and with just 5 minutes showing on the clock, Alberto now was shown one lap clear of John and Emanule, and three laps clear of Andrea Ciurlante. As the final pitstops took place, John made a small mistake on the track, but managed to hold onto his position. Andrea Ciurlante moved up to third in the final few minutes and with one minute to race, Alberto led John by around three quarters of a lap. Alberto calmly completed the final few laps and crossed the line to take the 2010 EFRA European B Championship, with John crossing the line in second and Andrea Ciurlante in third. However, the drama continued in post race technical inspection, when Johns fuel tank was found to be slightly over the legal limit. Sadly this left him disqualified from the final, promoting Andrea Ciurlante to second and Andrea Lorenzi to third, making it an all-Italian podium. |
 After 45 minutes of intense racing, the final order was; 1. Alberto Tedeschi - IT - Serpent/Max/ATS Tires 2. Andrea Ciurlante - IT - Mugen/Siro/Matrix Tires 3. Andrea Lorenzi - IT - Serpent/Max/UFRA Tires 4. Emanuele Comoglio - MON - Motonica/Novarossi 5. Gerald Colinet - FR - Serpent/RB 6. Tim Wood - GB - Serpent/Mega 7. Maximilian Federmann - GER - Mugen/Novarossi 8. Sabrina Lechner - GER - Serpent/Max 9. Simon Kurzbuch - CH - Shepherd/Max 10 (DQ) John Ermen - NL - Serpent/RB |
 The prize ceremony took place and the press assembled for photos of all the drivers, cars, trophies and organising team. After the race, I was able to grab a few minutes with Alberto in between his numerous phone calls to family and friends at home and chats with his team and competitors. I asked Alberto what it was that allowed him to take victory here in Monaco, he replied that the car was perfect, the engine running very good too. He had made some small changes after his semi final which made the car very fast and easy to drive. I asked him about his next race, like many he said he was going to the European A Championships in his home country of Italy in just a few weeks time. He hopes to do well here too, but says it will be difficult as the entry list is much larger and competitive. Throughout all the photographs and interviews after the race, he was always keen to include his pitman and mechanic, highlighting how important their roles were in his victory. |
We wish Alberto and the rest of the competitors the best of luck for the A Championships dont forget RC Racing TV will be there too as the EFRA Official Media Partner, bringing you plenty of updates at www.efra.ws throughout the event. We hope you have enjoyed our coverage from this weekends European Championship, and of course we will be at every EFRA European Championship this summer bringing you news, reports, photographs and race footage all at www.efra.ws. |
