The SMP Racing crew leave the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit very disappointed, but also aware that they produced some excellent performances that could have put their 488 GT3 Evo 2020 on the podium. The drivers of car no. 52 saw this possible result thwarted by an unlucky pit-stop and a drive-through in the final stages of the race.
Davide Rigon: “It was a difficult day for us. A good start for Miguel, who kept out of trouble and was able to gain a position. We made the stop during the Full Course Yellow, and although there was a lot of confusion in the pit lane, we managed to gain a lot of positions and move up to second place. The car was well balanced even though the speed on the straight was always affected by the BoP. In the second pit, however, the stop didn’t go as planned, and we all entered the pit lane together. For this reason, Sergey could not stop in position and had to move the car to refuel. The episode cost us over a minute and the subsequent penalty. But the race was already compromised at that point. We lost a podium that could have been within our reach, but we’ll find the strength to be competitive again in the next one”.
Miguel Molina: “The final result was not as expected, but today was not our day. It’s a shame because it was a good opportunity to take important points on a track where the BoP was not really in our favour. My stint was quite good… a good start. After our first pit-stop which went very well, the second one was not as good, and this compromised a good result. We hope to make up for it in the next race”.
Sergey Sirotkin: “It was a good race and bad race together in one race. A very good side of what I saw today was that generally our pace was quite good, despite the BoP and we really squeezed the best from our car. Obviously the very negative side was that we couldn’t bring it to the end, and didn’t finish on the podium because we had the conditions to do so. I think the reason for this was many different smaller and bigger things in the procedure that eventually complicated the pit-stop, which in the end was crucial for the race result. We will learn the lesson, we will take a step forward and will come back strong in the next race. We will make sure that we won’t leave any chance for anyone else and get the best possible result”.