It was the penultimate weekend of GT race action for the Kaspersky Motorsport crew, which ended with a fantastic fifth place finish for the driving duo of Alex Moiseev and Marco Cioci at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. It was a great result and a fitting reward for the team and the AF Corse team, for whom this was only the second race weekend running the new Ferrari 488GT3.
“From our first race with this car, we learned it is much more sensitive to changes than the previous one, which means we need to make smaller modifications in terms of set-up as they have a comparatively greater effect on the car’s behaviour,” explained Jacopo Fedele, the team’s chief engineer at the start of the Spanish weekend and at a venue best known for hosting the Spanish Formula 1™ Grand Prix. “With the old car, you could rely more on what the driver felt at the wheel and still be consistent, but with this one you have to spend much more time working on set-up. It is a more complex machine and one of the factors is that it is more sensitive in terms of the difference running it on old or new tyres, so that each situation requires a different set-up. In the past, we would adjust the set-up to suit two different drivers for example, but this weekend, we were working on the set-up depending on which driver is at the wheel and also whether we are running new or used tyres.” Whatever the challenges, the team seemed to be on top of them at the Catalan track, as the number 49 car was fastest in Free Practice.
The format in the GT Open championship involves a race on Saturday and Sunday and one driver taking part in a qualifying session on each of those days to establish a grid position.
On Saturday, it was Alex’s turn to go for the one-lap decider and he was 14th overall and 13th quickest in the Pro-Am category. Alex wasn’t very lucky in terms of traffic during the session and there was more bad luck at the start of Saturday’s race. At Turn 4, the Kaspersky Motorsport Ferrari was pitched into a spin and hit by another competitor. The collision left the car with a damaged rear wing, which necessitated a stop in the pits, while the mechanics rushed to fit a new one. That cost the team a couple of laps and then, towards the end of Alex’s stint, he pirouetted the car again, dropping right down the order. Marco Cioci drove a great final stint after the changeover, banging in a series of quick laps to move up the order, but in the end they had crossed the line to settle for 17th place.
On Sunday morning, it was Marco’s turn to tackle qualifying and the Italian was quickest for much of the session with everyone running wet weather tyres, as the track surface was still damp from the previous night. However, the team made a tactical error, failing to switch him to slicks in the final moments of the session and those competitors who did fit dry tyres immediately found much more performance in a crazy final few minutes, relegating the Kaspersky Motorsport car to 13th place on the grid for the final race of the weekend. Would it be lucky 13?
Race 2 featured an early Safety Car period, which bunched up everyone and Marco, clearly quicker than his 13th place on the grid. He started scything his way through the field, all the way to fourth place, when the Aston Martin ahead of him spun, our Italian driver was in the podium zone, running third with around half an hour still to race. Then it was time for the white and green Kaspersky car to rumble down the pit lane for the driver swap and Alex was strapped in and sent on his way, still in third. Alex was unfortunate as he was demoted to fourth in a dubious move, when Miguel Ramos ran right off the track to stay ahead of the Ferrari. The race had to be neutralised again because of a big two-car crash and Alex found himself back in fourth with the task of making his Ferrari as wide as possible to try and keep series leader Fabrizio Crestani behind him.
It was one of the most thrilling battles of the race but in the end the more experienced Lamborghini man got ahead just two corners from the chequered flag. Nevertheless, fifth is a terrific result and Alex Moiseev feels the team is making good progress, which bodes well for next season: “It was great to be back in the car again after a break of over a month since the last race and I’m really pleased with the way we performed over this weekend,” said the Russian. “This afternoon, we lost some time because of traffic, although it’s always tricky when you start from the middle of the grid. After that we had good pace, but not enough to close the gap. I am quite happy with the teams progress because we stepped up a level here”. As for Marco, he was particularly impressed at how the crew in the pits managed today’s race. “The team did a brilliant job, picking the right time to bring me in to the pits for the driver change,” explained the Italian. “It was good strategy call that helped us make up time, which was a big part of where we finished today. Everyone in the team performed so well and deserved this excellent P5, not far off the podium.”
There’s just one more race for the beautiful 488GT3 this season and it takes place next weekend in Ferrari’s homeland at the Vallelunga Circuit, on the outskirts of the Eternal City. And, the day before, we’ll be making an announcement about plans for the 2017 season: we can’t say anything yet, but it’s going to take Kaspersky Motorsport to whole new level, so be sure to hit our Twitter and Facebook pages for some exciting news.