Team UK tenth in Race-2 at Vallelunga

Adverse weather conditions put a damper on proceedings in the second GT Cup race, as part of the FIA Motorsports Games held at Vallelunga. For the Ferrari crews in action in the race, the final result did not live up to prior expectations, hampering any bid for the final medals which will be awarded at the end of this afternoon’s scheduled programme at the circuit near Rome.  After a start overseen by the Safety Car, the battle got underway three laps later, but the ever increasing downfall, in addition to causing several cars to go off-track – among them the 488 GT3 of Team Russia holding fifth place – forced race stewards to again call out the Safety Car, before subsequently halting the race. Some thirty minutes later, with the track once again race-worthy, operations resumed with a re-start to the race which would run for a further thirty minutes. In the interim period in the pits, the teams were given the authorization to carry out driver swaps, with the Bronze-level drivers set to be replaced in their respective vehicles by those of Silver. With the most competitive of the Ferrari crews - that of Team Russia - now out of the running, Maranello machinery occupied tenth position courtesy of the U.S. crew, eleventh place for Belarus, fourteenth for Great Britain, with the Italian race team in twentieth, after not having had a lap reinstated after ending up in the gravel moments before the Safety Car entrance. Mid-group, Haigh gained the tenth spot with Team Britain’s 488 GT3, while Ferriol, representing the USA, slipped down the order to thirteenth place. The battle for tenth place between Turkey, Great Britain and Denmark livened up the race although lap times nevertheless rose. With three minutes left to run, contact with the Mercedes of the Chinese team sent the American Ferrari into a spin, and a lap latter, Team Denmark’s Jens Reno Muller collided with the Ferrari of Gianluca Roda Sr. As the chequered flag unfurled, the fastest Prancing Horse car across the line was that of Team UK, posting tenth, followed by Belarus in fifteenth. It proved a tricky race for the other Ferrari outfits with Italy finishing nineteenth, the U.S. crew in twenty-first and the Russian squad twenty-second.