Solaris Motorsport scored in Monza two solid performances in the International GT Open round
PICTURE Credit: Photospeedy
Monza, Italy - The Solaris Motorsport comeback on the International GT Open European scene ended with two solid performances of the Corvette Z06R. Francesco Sini and Marcello Puglisi conquered in Italy a sixth and a seventh place in the two races, showing a great race pace and the fastest pit stops of the entire racing weekend, a great recognition of the hard work made by the Solaris guys at home.
Competitive and fast in the two free practice session, characterized by an unstable weather that mixed rain and sun, the Solaris Motorsport Corvette signed a good tenth best time in Q1 with Marcello Puglisi, that started in the 70-minutes Race 1. The American coupè, back for the occasion to the #12, after a good start surprised all the GT Open circus with the fastest pit stop of the race. Spectacular and intense the battle with Balfe Ferrari, ended with the sixth place under the checkered flag. Q2 saw Francesco Sini signing the seventh time on a semi-wet track after the huge rain of the night. The Corvette was again protagonist in the Race 2, fighting a lot for the top positions, with a eventful battle for the Top 5 with the Ramos-Parente McLaren and the Rugolo-Lathouras Ferrari. Thanks to another very fast pit stop, the Italian Corvette finished the race in P7, after coming under a controversial overtake in the last laps of the race.
"It was a whole good weekend, the Corvette showed itself competitive also in an European contest as the GT Open. We expected to be in favour on the straights, but with this balance we had everyone the same top speed. The rain came in these days mixed all the cards, but we can say to be satisfied of what we showed." said Francesco Sini, who wants to underline the amazing job of his crew. "I want to congratulate with all my guys for the outstanding job during the pit stops, the first one was the fastest of the entire weekend..simply the best! The race were tuff, we fought a lot on track with many rivals, things didn't go on the way we should want always, but the most important thing is that we never give up and probably we enjoyed all the fans!"
"We may reach a result a little bit better with a pinch of more luck, but we can say to be decisively satisfied. The guys were simply amazing during the pit stops both on Sunday and Saturday and helped us to fight on the top positions. - said Marcello Puglisi - The BOP probably took a little advantage to the other cars than our Corvette, otherwise we have could point to fight for the podium. The most important thing is to have showed our continuous improvement, the team, with the right newcomers, is growing up a lot during these months and the results on track told us we are on the right way. The races were very hard, sometimes on the limit, but we were always protagonists and it counts."
"Monza was a good test of all of us, to oil better our team and understand where and how operate in 2016." commented Solaris Motorsport Team Principal Roberto Sini - "This year we did a lot experiments and we learned a lot, growing up all together, drivers and technicians, race by race. Francesco a Marcello were very determined during the races, we never made a mistakes despite of the tricky battle and the track conditions. Furthermore, our crew did an outstanding job during the stops! We are already working on the next season, we want to race with a new and more competitive car in order to comeback to fight for the victory!"
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