Neubauer cleans up in Barcelona

Perfect weekend for Thomas Neubauer who scooped two pole positions and two wins in the Trofeo Pirelli. In Am class, a win in Race 2 for Frederik Paulsen.

Start. Pole-sitter Thomas Neubauer made a gritty start as soon as the lights went out, going head to head with Fabienne Wohlwend before eventually making off with the leadership. Frederik Paulsen, pulled a swift move to pass Emanuele Maria Tabacchi, taking third overall position in the process, but the Italian dug deep to take back the position whilst still on the opening lap. Taking up the rear of the field was Matúš Výboh, in Am class – forced to start from tenth place after having his qualification times annulled – pulled back two places. As the race went on Frederik Espersen overtook Olivier Grotz on the second lap to grab second place in the Am category.

Halfway stage. Midway through, the tussles were limited to the top three in both of the classes: the Trofeo Pirelli with Neubauer, Wohlwend and Tabacchi all marking the pace, while in Am class, Paulsen led Espersen and Grotz. It was a very tightly-fought affair, however, no-one seemed prepared to attempt to overtake. Coming from behind, Matúš Výboh appeared to have the verve to pull off a comeback and over the coming few laps was able to whittle away numerous seconds, however the gap from the three frontrunners proved too lengthy to make up and he had to settle for the position.

Decisive attack. The determining lunge finally came courtesy of Tabacchi who, on the thirteenth lap, attempted to overhaul Wohlwend, who, in an attempt to fend off the attack strayed from the racing-line to give the Italian just enough space. Tabacchi seemed to still have the energy to hunt down the leader: on the following lap, at turn ten once again, he made a move on Neubauer. The attack proved to be a risky one and Tabacchi made slight contact with the rear-end of the Frenchman’s 488 Challenge Evo who nevertheless kept control of the vehicle. There were a few bends still left to battle out, but the chequered flag put paid to the hostilities, signalling a second Neubauer win. Tabacchi stays in command of the general Trofeo Pirelli standings on 60 points. In the Am class, the triumph was claimed by Paulsen, ahead of Espersen and Grotz. The Danish rookie once again proved to be the most interesting driver in the category thanks to a positive, high-level performance. Thanks to the weekend’s result in Barcelona, the Formula Racing driver is a mere point adrift of the leader in the standings, Výboh whose fourth place in Race 2 keeps at the head of the table on 58 points.