Sernagiotto, Lacorte and Fuoco elevenths. Fatal breaking of the aileron, now think of Le Mans
MONZA. There is an open account between Cetilar and the Second of Lesmo. On Friday a pad from their Ferrari had come off, there on Sunday came the accident that clipped the wings of their hopes for the podium. Things that happen, but that don’t hurt any less.
In the end Giorgio Sernagiotto, Roberto Lacorte and Antonio Fuoco closed their 6 Hours of Monza eleventh in class, taking home the half point reserved for those who finish the race but out of the top 10. A half point that makes them still stay ahead in the World Championship and that will lead them to Le Mans as leader of the classification. The trouble happened around the hour and a quarter of the race. Lacorte, who had started by limiting the attacks that came mainly from Ferrari # 83 (relegated from second to last on the grid due to technical irregularities, but fourth after four laps), in the acceleration leading to the Seraglio perhaps touched the green curb and this made his 488 evo oversteer, which started like a sling towards the internal barriers.
The impact, which arrived when it was around 100 hours, heavily damaged the rear wing of the car and forced the Pisan to return to the garage. The mechanics worked hard to get the car back on track as soon as possible, but this still cost the crew three laps. A delay that in a tight class like the GTE cannot be recovered in the slightest. Especially since the blow left some damage for the rest of the race, minimal to the aerodynamics of the front but more important to the rear extractor.
The mountain to climb was really high, but thanks to a Safety Car, Ferrari # 47 managed to recover a lap, at least putting itself in the position of being able to fight to bring home the full points. It was when there was an hour left before the end of the race that it became clear that the feat was not within reach: to make it there was another lap to make up for the Ferrari # 61, the AF Corse cousins, but the pace they were holding did not allow Fire to get close enough.
Something sensational had to happen, something that in fact did not happen. When the commissioners displayed the checkered flag, there was a very different atmosphere in the Cetilar garage than in Portimao. No tragedy, which is not really the case, but next to some smiles the faces also expressed a lot of bitterness. Objectively, as long as the race was on even laps there was a lot to hope for.
Cetilar really seemed to keep pace with the best already with Lacorte, who nevertheless had never gone lower than sixth place, recovering up to fifth before Lesmo’s bang. The turns of Serna and Fuoco could have been those of recovery, and already in the early stages of the race Lacorte was able to easily stay ahead of the two Aston Martins, who reached the podium second and third. The image of that podium was also a punch in the stomach. Beyond this, finally Cetilar was able to hug the audience again, even if she wanted to greet him in a different way.
Among the thousand of the stands there were decine of Ferrari flags and many wore blue Cetilar # 47 t-shirts, including memorabilia from the partnership with Villorba Corse at Le Mans and still all autographed to other more recent ones marked AF Corse. An image of normality that has at the same time eliminated what was the bugbear of all the teams that landed in the Temple of speed: the public from Brianza is famous for its passion, but when it goes beyond it, it takes the fans to take home a memory. Selfies, autographs and t-shirts when it goes well, rims, tires and bumpers when you go more on the market.