Adamski & Mancinelli win in Germany

Hockenheim, 31 Aug 2013: It was a clear cut victory for local man Dirk Adamski in the first race of the Coppa Shell championship at the Hockenheim circuit. Young Italian driver, and title contender, Daniel Mancinelli took the win in a controversial first race for Trofeo Pirelli.

It was overcast and cooler in Hockenheim when 25 Ferrari Challenge cars lined up for the first Coppa Shell race of the day. Adamski had secured pole, after a disappointing day yesterday where the team achieved practically no running. The Autohaus Saggio team worked through the night to finally identify one small wire that was causing all the problems. Vincenzo Sauto, Eric Prinoth and Oliver Mayer completed the front two rows.

Adamski showed the chasing pack nothing but his rear bumper for the entire race, followed by Sauto, Thomas Kukucka and Andrii Lebed. Lebed eventually snatched third position from Kukucka and the leading trio began to pull away from the pack. In the closing stages of the race third place was contested between Kukucka, Sauto who eventually came together at the second to last turn, handing the third place to Massimiliano Bianchi.

“I am really really happy,” Said Adamski on the Podium. “To win so close to home and with all my friends and family here to see it is great, especially after all the hard work my team put in to fix my car.”

Adamski extends his lead in the championship with 131 points over nearest rival David Gostner with 108 points after finishing eighth today. Sauto is third with 102 points.

The Trofeo Pirelli race would prove to be controversial from the very start. As Dario Caso lead the field away Giacomo Stratta was missing from his 5th place on the grid due to a gear box problem. Philip Baron used the start to his advantage and appeared in second position from eighth on the grid after just one lap and his pace was clear when he passed Caso for the lead just two laps later. Despite pulling out a clear lead Baron’s place at the front was soon under threat as the stewards investigated him for a false start – the subsequent drive through penalty pushed him down to fourth.

Meanwhile Daniel Mancinelli had taken third position, followed by Sergey Chukanov who had started ninth. In the closing stages of the race Caso and second placed Mancinelli touched, allowing Mancinelli through to take the lead. Chukanov suddenly spun into the gravel, after he had limped home to the pits a broken front right suspension was his undoing. Mancinelli pulled out a clear lead to take the win, followed by a disgruntled Baron (protesting his drive through penalty) and Caso taking third.

This action means that Chukanov retains his lead in the championship with 109 points, but now by only 3 points from Mancinelli. Caso has certainly not ruled himself out from the title currently standing on 96 points.

Race two for Coppa Shell is flagged off at 13:30 local time tomorrow with Trofeo Pirelli following at 15:25.

ends