THE CHARACTER
The quiet is ending. The two-day break after Sunday’s test brought advice to some, boredom to many others. Among these is Giorgio Sernagiotto, the Caeranese at Le Mans for the fifth time and who this year knows he can play to take home the Gt Am class. Soon to say, of course. Together with Lacorte and Fuoco, Cetilar racing’s Ferrari 488 Gte evo will have to build its race step by step. And if making predictions in general is always complicated, at Le Mans it becomes an exercise that borders on the ridiculous. On the 13 km of the Sarthe, everything is won or lost on the first or last lap, and in 24 hours of racing the amount of inconveniences, problems and discord that can happen are incalculable. «The Le Castellet tests went well and in Sunday’s collective at Le Mans we only fixed a few details. We are ready, even if we know how difficult it will be: we will have to fight, but I can’t wait », says Serna on the finish straight, while the photographers are busy shooting. The tests have certified what was already perceived. The battle in Gt Am will be to the death, with 13 cars in just one second after the two collective sessions. For heaven’s sake, in these times it is easy to blunder: the teams do not immediately show the cards they have in their hands so as not to be burdened by the balance of performances, a complex rule that tries to level the performance of the GTs but promptly favors someone at the expense of others. : «We are ready, even if we have seen that there are six or seven crews that can win. It will be a battle, but we have prepared well and the team is ready. I’m confident”. The word “win” does not even come out of his mouth by mistake. If he looks carefully, he turns around us cautiously: superstition does its part. In the meantime, the city has been preparing almost as usual for its 24 Hours, which starts tomorrow with free practice and qualifying. Place de la République did not see the usual crowd for the pre-race checks: instead of the cars and the drivers there is a garden, watered with showers. Not the best to pass by when they start treacherously: here there are never more than 22 degrees, the sun is an abstract entity behind very dense clouds and the ocean breeze makes everything more like autumn. The first campers had already arrived on Monday evening: finally the Endurance World Championship and Le Mans return to hosting the real public by detaching 50,000 tickets. –
Niccolò Budoia