Solid performance for Paolo Ruberti in Navarra (Spain), theater of the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The Italian driver was victim of a problem to the gears since the third and decisive qualifying heat which prevented him to fight for the pole position after the third laptime set in Q2 by his crew mate Raffaele Giammaria.

Thanks to the remarkable work done by team Autorlando’s men, that managed to do the miracle of replacing clutch and gears in just one hour separating the end of parc ferme and the pit-lane opening, Gianluca Roda regularly was at the start of the race and kept himself between the second and third position throughout the first stint. Similar level for Giammaria’s performance too, who gave the number 9 Porsche 997 GT3-R to Ruberti in second position for the last part of the race. The champion from Verona experienced again problems with the gears which made him lose the first gear: despite this his rhythm was high for more than half an hour but he could not defend his position in the finale from the attacks moved by Filipe Albuquerqe (Audi).

The third place under the chequered flag allows anyway Ruberti and his crew mates to keep the classification leadership with 40 points, 4 adrift the closest rivals.

Paolo Ruberti: “Staying competitive for an hour without using the first gear on a track requiring its use at least five times per lap is not easy, but it was the only thing I could to to keep the classification leadership. We are all satisfied with this result, the credit for it goes also to all men of the team that have been amazing in replacing clutch and gears in such a short time”.

The Blancpain Endurance Series will be back on track next 30 July in Spa (Belgium) for the traditional 24hours.

Source : Paolo Ruberti