Michelle Gatting (Scuderia Niki – Iron Lynx) proved to be the fastest at the end of the qualifying session for the second Trofeo Pirelli race scheduled at the Misano track. In the Am class, fellow countryman Frederik Paulsen (Formula Racing) also gave a repeat performance.
Trofeo Pirelli. Michelle Gatting (Scuderia Niki – Iron Lynx) is once again the fastest. The Dane, after establishing pole position in Saturday’s qualifying, once again topped the times in the session to determine the Race 2 starting grid. The weekend battle thus looks likely to continue on the Misano track between the Scuderia Niki - Iron Lynx standard bearer and Emanuele Maria Tabacchi (Rossocorsa), with the balance currently tipping in Michelle Gatting’s favour, after the triumph in the first race.
The freshly-crowned champion of the Ferrari Challenge Europe Trofeo Pirelli tried to snatch the pole position for himself, coming out early and breaking his usual ritual of making an entrance only in the latter stages of the session. Tabacchi initially established the fastest time but was beaten after a few laps by Michelle Gatting with a time of 1:35.125. The Italian driver, after returning to the pits, re-staged an assault in the second part of the session, but was forced, however, to settle for the second quickest time in the class, third overall, some 379 hundreds-of-a-second off the pace. Third was Tim Kohmann (Kessel Racing) who in the final stages managed to overtake Florian Merckx (Baron Motorsport), relegating him to fourth position.
Trofeo Pirelli Am. Frederik Paulsen (Formula Racing) was also bidding for a royal flush. After yesterday's pole position and Race 1 victory, he looks poised to be among Sunday’s key protagonists. Indeed, in the second qualifying session, Paulsen recorded a time of 1:35.452 to earn the class pole position, the second fastest overall time; a result which will allow him to start from a front row adorned with the colours of Denmark. Second best performance, sixth overall, came from Olivier Grotz (Formula Racing) a mere three tenths-of-a-second behind. (1:35.761). Third quickest was Vicente Potolicchio (Rossocorsa), reconfirming the result from Race 1 where he managed to make it onto the lowest step of the podium. Matús Vyboh (Scuderia Praha), the main challenger to leader Paulsen’s class title bid, qualified with the fourth fastest time.
Schedule. The start of Trofeo Pirelli Race 2 is scheduled for this afternoon at 16.20 and will be broadcast in live streaming on the races.ferrari.com website.