Enzo Ide, the 20-year-old promising young driver from the Belgian West- Flanders, who finished third in last years FIA GT3 European Championship, is competing in the 2012 World Championship with Corse Ferrari. Moscow welcomed the seventh meeting of the World Championship, which was a world première, as never before had an FIA World Championship been held in Russia. A mere few kilometres from the world-renowned Red Square the Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, McLaren and Mercedes teams were going head to head. In difficult weather conditions Enzo Ide and his Italian teammate Francesco Castellacci managed to clinch an eighth place in the qualifying race, but on the other a brilliant bronze medal for their efforts. Unfortunately an unjustified decisions from the race directors, with a 30 seconds time penalty cancelled their third place and the Belgian-Italian duo needed to content themselves with a sixth place. For the two AF Corse Ferrari drivers they still have two meetings, with the first one at the F1 circuit of the Nürburgring followed by India at the beginning of December.
For Enzo Ide and Francesco Castellacci, what should have been an exceptional race weekend turned into a bitter disappointment. The race directors punished Enzo’s Italian teammate for something which did not occur…
Enzo Ide: “Francesco was really getting to grips with the race, and was aiming for a podium place. The final obstacle was the Mercedes up in third place and it was here that something occurred, following which the Mercedes spun round. In my opinion nothing had gone wrong, and I can prove that in as much that there is not a single trace of an accident on the car. Francesco pushed on through and at the line was only held back from a second spot by a McLaren. We had in fact completed a brilliant race!”
However, shortly after the finish the unexpected reared its head. The care bearing start number #4 was penalised with a 30″ penalty sending it back into sixth place… The race directors having been of the opinion that the Italian driver had been involved in the incident with the Mercedes SLS.
Enzo Ide: “Both the penalty as also its sanction are for the least strange. In the first instance for me there was no contact, and in the second place why a 30″ penalty? Back in Zolder we were heavily shunted by a Mercedes, in fact twice and those guys were allowed to retain their position, but were required to start the following race from the back of the grid. What is frustrating that for once here we have been spared from any problems and now they take away our podium place. I am downright disappointed…”
Enzo Ide will in fact be not at the start of the 24 Hours of Zolder this coming weekend. “For one or other reason it was impossible to find a truly competitive car with which to defend my title in Zolder and actually have any chance of clinching a victory, so I wasn’t really interested.”
Source : Enzo Ide