Monza -
Nicklas Nielsen (Formula Racing) claimed the Trofeo Pirelli Championship and
Fabienne Wohlwend (Octane 126) was the first woman to ever claim a World Final championship at the final race of the 2018 Finali Mondiali.
Dramatic Start. Thirty seven cars lined up to contest the thirty minute sprint to the championship, but a number of cars were eliminated before even arriving to Turn 1. Light car to car contact sent
Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari Beverly Hills) spearing left and into the Armco, rebounding back across the track before finally coming to a rest at pit-out. The chaos collected a number of cars, particularly from the North American continent and caused the race to be red-flagged while repairs to the Armco barriers could be enacted.
Restart. As the red flag had come out before any cars could take a full lap, a double file re-start was again called for.
David Fumanelli (Rossocorsa) moved up to the lead as pole sitter
Bjorn Grossman (Octane 126) was forced into the pits and retired. David was able to withstand a strong attack from Nicklas Neilsen in the opening corner, but that battle was far from settled. In Trofeo Pirelli AM, Fabienne maintained her lead with a bit of a cushion from second place
Renaldi Hutasoit (Ferrari Jakarta) in the form of another Trofeo Pirelli car. Further back in Trofeo Pirelli AM,
Martin Nelson (Scuderia Autoropa) and
Ross Chouest (Ferrari of Palm Beach) began another battle that would last all race, separated by only a few tenths.
Second Safety Car. The on track action would be put on hold a second time by a high speed incident on the front straight that sent them careening at high speed through the first chicane and into cars exiting on the other side. This brought out the second safety car period of the race, with 16 minutes remaining. It would take another 8 minutes to clean the resulting debris.
Restart and Finish. At the re-start, the battle between David Fumanelli and Nicklas Nielsen resumed almost immediately. But it was not until there were only two minutes to go that Nicklas was able to make the decisive move. On the approach to parabolica, Nicklas faded left before juking right. The move seemed to catch David unawares as he opened his hands in surprise. The small adjustment was all that Nicklas needed to power through. While the two both over-ran the first chicane, David had to give back his advantage. In Trofeo Pirelli AM, Fabienne maintained her advantage over Renaldi, but the true battle was for third place as Ross Chouest continued to pressure Martin Nelson (Scuderia Autoropa). But the American was unable to take his place on the podium, falling behind the Sweede by just two tenths of a second.