Parth Ghorpade finishes 5th in Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS at Mugello

David Bodapati September 9, 2013

463 2 minutes read

Mugello, 9 Sept 2013: Young Indian racer Parth Ghorpade finished in a brilliant 5th position to record his best finish of the season in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS race at Mugello, Italy. Parth had his best weekend of the series with a solid qualifying and race performance at the challenging Mugello Circuit in the Tuscany region of Italy. Parth finished in 9th position in the second race, an Adrenna release said

Parth Ghorpade finishes 5th at Mugello on Sunday. An Adrenna Communications photo

For the first time this season Parth had a great start to the weekend with competitive times in all 3 free practice sessions. This was followed by an even better qualifying session where he finished P5 in a very strong Group A . He missed P4 by 0.003 of a second to Piers Gasly, who is currently running 2nd in the Formula Renault Eurocup series. There were a number of Eurocup drivers for this race to form one of the strongest grids this season. Parth qualified overall in position for Race 1 P9 for Race.

In Race 1, Parth had a great start and he moved up to 5th position at the first corner. He held this position till the end , but to do so he had to set some consistently fast times as in front of him was Vermont of Team ARTA and behind him was Silva of Koirannen GP. Parth was all over Vermont for P4 throughout the race but could not find a way past. He had the 4th fastest lap of the race even recording the fastest time in sector 3 giving him a strong finish.

Race 2 was tougher for the Indian as he lost couple of positions at the start. Parth got stuck in a 3 way battle for 8th place behind his teammate Dario Capitanio and Sahara of Euronova. The last lap saw Parth battling with his team-mate Capitanio for P9, with Parth pulling off a brave move on the inside of the last corner. The two cars were side by side from halfway through the corner right to the finish line, with Parth managing to nose ahead by a few centimeters. It was a thrilling finish in a race where he had the pace to finish in a higher position.

Parth was confident of a strong end to the season after his ability to fight with the top guys on a challenging circuit. He commented, “It was great to finally fight with the top guys especially at a great challenging track like Mugello. From the first practice session the car has been really good and we have been competitive. Race 1 was perfect but due to overtaking being tough over here we just could not get past Vermont. Race 2 was tougher as I did not have a great start and then got stuck behind slower cars. It was nice to finish wheel-to-wheel with Dario (Capitanio) as I just nudged ahead. I am confident heading into the last round at Imola and hope to fight with the top guys again.”.

The Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS, is one of the most competitive feeder series for the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. The Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS, powered by the Clio III Renault Sport engine, has a paddle-operated 7-speed sequential gearbox, with 250bhp and push rod suspension.

The ALPS series will have 36 drivers for the 2013 season with 7 rounds consisting of two races each. The 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS calendar includes visits to the historic Spa-Francorrchamps, Monza, Imola and Vallelunga. Each race weekend has three 60 minute practice sessions on Friday, with qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday.

19 year-old Ghorpade is the 2012 Formula Pilota Asian Champion, a five-time National Karting Champion, and runner-up in the inaugural 2010 Volkswagen Polo Cup India.

Calendar for the 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS